Pokémon: The Fall of Team Rocket
by Enterprise F
Summary: After the battle for the World Pokémon League Championship, Ash and Leaf are attacked by Team Rocket, which leads up to a climatic showdown between Ash, his friends and family, Leaf, and Team Rocket. Rated T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

Legal Disclaimer: Pokémon is copyright Nintendo. I do not own it, Nintendo and Game Freak do. It and all of its characters are the property of Nintendo, Game Freak, and Satoshi Tajiri.

Author's Note – This story takes place in the game universe, though there are animé characters in the story. Should any contradiction between the events of the animé and the games exist, then the events of the games take precedent.

Pokémon: The Fall of Team Rocket

Chapter 1:

Ash Ketchum, a boy with spiky black hair and hazel eyes, wearing a black t-shirt with a red shirt over it with short black sleeves, a white collar, and a white line down the middle, blue pants and a red cap with a white Poké Ball symbol on its front, stood next to the sofa in the guest lodge of the World Pokémon League Stadium with his best friend and partner, Pikachu, a yellow mouse-like Pokémon that stood was little larger than a house cat with yellow and black striped fur, a lightning bolt-like tail, and red cheeks where he stored electricity, standing on the table. Ash hardly knew what to think as he took each step towards the door. Today was his thirteenth birthday and win or lose; he was going to celebrate it with his mother and Professor Oak once this upcoming battle was over. It was his hope, though, that his greatest birthday present of all time would be that he would win the battle and become the world Pokémon League Champion, and officially be recognized as a Pokémon Master.

Checking the time on the clock next to the sofa, he saw that the time for the battle for the World Pokémon League Championship was fast approaching. It was currently eleven forty-five A.M., and the battle was scheduled to begin at noon. He made one final check of the rules to make sure that he knew all of the differences between the final battle and his previous battle against Cynthia. There were no real significant differences, save for the fact that either he, or the current Champion, a Trainer known as Leaf, could specify a specific set of rules that had to be agreed to by both battlers. He thought back to the start of his journey, where Pikachu refused to do a thing he told him and the two were constantly fighting. Now, they were the best of friends. They had never really been servant and master, regardless of what others may have thought, but the bond between Ash and Pikachu was closer than the bond many human friends felt. Pikachu was family to Ash, and Ash to Pikachu. They had both come a long way, and all of it was culminating into a final battle to become a Pokémon Master.

He then thought back on the previous four battles that he and his Pokémon friends had fought in to get to this point. There had been new rules in these latest battles, the most notable being the use of held items by the Pokémon. In his first battle, a battle against the Pokémon Trainer, the Johto League Champion, Ethan, he had found out how powerful the current champions of the various leagues really were. Despite being his first opponent, he was not the easiest by a long shot. However, as tough as Ethan was, he was not the toughest of the Elite Trainers that Ash had to face. By far, his most formidable opponent had been Cynthia, the current reigning leader of the World Pokémon League. Only the second in command, Lance, the former Johto League Champion until two years prior, he was bested by Ethan, was anywhere close to Cynthia in power. He had since rechallenged Ethan and had managed to pull off a win against the second member of the World Elite Four that Ash had faced in his journey to the top. Still, in his numerous battles with Cynthia, the tall blond woman came out on top in all of them. However, there was one Trainer that was superior even to her, two counting Ash. Ash's upcoming opponent had been the only one to have ever defeated Cynthia on more than one occasion. It was Ash's hope to defeat the true World Pokémon League Champion and be declared a true Pokémon Master.

Once he was ready, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and looked over at Pikachu and asked, "Are ya ready, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" came the electric type Pokémon's response. He then hopped up onto Ash's shoulder.

"Our next battle will be our toughest," Ash told his friend. "We'll need to be at our best if we're gonna win."

Pikachu nodded and clenched his fingers into fists, his cheeks sparking with electricity. Ash could only smile at Pikachu's confidence and determination. It echoed his own. He would not lose to his next opponent. He checked the Pokémon that he had chosen and made sure that he had a balanced team, for despite the fact that his opponent was the World Pokémon League Champion, virtually nothing was known about this Trainer, save for the fact that he or she was said to be from Kanto, or have started in Kanto, and had one of the starters. Unlike the Elite Four members, the computers had little to nothing on the Pokémon that would be used by the Champion. Still, Ash would not let it get him down. He knew that he could still win. Once he had slung his backpack over his other shoulder, he left the lodge.

The trip to the indoor stadium was pretty short. Once he arrived at the stadium he scanned his surroundings. There was little security save for some cameras and the fact that the door had an electronic lock that could only be opened by a card key. The door was made of metal and was resistant to Pokémon attacks and many kinds of conventional explosives. On the lock was a single slot for the card and a red light, indicating that the door was currently locked. He went over to the door and drew out a card. He swiped it through the slot on the side and the red light turned green and the door slid open. Once the door was open, he made his way his way through and entered the stadium. The walk down the hall to the main indoor stadium was relatively long and the lights that lined the hallway were quite dim. As he walked, he thought he could see a figure out of the corner of his eye in the shadows down a darkened corridor to his left. Pikachu also must have sensed something, for his ears quickly flicked back and forth and he alerted Ash to the presence of someone. Ash looked at the shadow where he thought that had seen the figure, but there was no one there. He did, however, find a note on the ground. Stooping down, he went over and picked it up. He opened it and read it. It read: _Good luck, Ash_. There was no signature at the end of it, but he felt as if he recognized the handwriting on the note, though it did not belong to his mother, Professor Oak, or any of his friends. He folded the note and placed it in his pocket, not knowing what to make of it, but staying on the lookout for any surprise guests that might show up. He then made his way to the indoor stadium.

He entered the stadium and slowly made his way to the field. The stadium was huge, the stands easily able to hold at least ten to maybe even twenty thousand people, something that surprised him for an indoor World Elite Four stadium, especially a stadium where the true Champion for a league that was only available by invitation, like the World Pokémon League. In the center of the arena, a massive high-definition television hung, with four screens on each side of a massive square. This must have been used to show the action more closely for the audience. Above the stands were other screens, likely showing the audience, and the Trainers, the status of the Trainers' Pokémon. He did not focus too much on the scenery and simply made his way to the field, which was a high tech turquoise translucent surface. He suspected that it would utilize holographic technology to simulate various terrains and other surfaces, a far cry from the other Pokémon Leagues that used normal pre-constructed fields for battles. There was a square that was marked for the Pokémon Trainer and he stepped up to it. He glanced across the field and saw that it was still deserted. Checking his watch and found that it was eleven fifty-three A.M. He still had seven minutes before being required to report.

He glanced up into the stands and saw that a good crowd had gathered and while the stadium was not yet filled to capacity, people were still coming in. He quickly searched for his mother and friends, quickly managing to spot them. Sitting a few rows up, and in the best position to see the battle, was his mother, Delia Ketchum, and Professor Samuel Oak, also called the Pokémon Professor and the one who had given him Pikachu. His mother wore a pink short-sleeved shirt and a blue skirt that fell to her knees and had brown hair pulled into a ponytail. Next to her on her right was Professor Oak, the one who gave Ash Pikachu. He had gray hair, black eyes, and wore a red oxford shirt with khaki pants, and a white lab coat over the shirt. Sitting to the left of his mother were three of his other friends from his previous adventures. The first of his friends to his mother's left was May, a Pokémon Coordinator from the Hoenn region of Japan. She had brown hair that fell almost to her shoulders in the form of two locks that formed a dog ear-like pattern and blue eyes. She wore a green bandana, a sleeveless orange shirt and black shorts. Sitting next to May was Dawn, who had dark blue to almost black hair that fell past her shoulders and blue eyes. She wore a sleeveless black mini dress with an incredibly short black and pink miniskirt. She also wore long pink boots. Next to Dawn was Tracey, an assistant to Professor Oak. He was around seventeen years old and had short, thick black hair and wore a green short-sleeved shirt with red shorts that came down to his knees.

As Ash looked up at his friends and his mother, he saw them smile and wave at him. He returned their smiles and then scanned the rest of the bleachers. After a cursory scan, he noticed a shadowy figure standing on the opposite side of the stands from his friends and mother. The figure made certain to keep himself, or herself, in the shadows so as to not be able to be identified, hiding among several other spectators. However, Ash could see that the figure was looking over at the stands on the opposite side of the stands. Ash noticed the figure's eyes focus on his mother and he almost glared at the figure. The figure then looked down at him and for the first time, he could see the figure more clearly. He was still unable to make out the figure's face, but he could see that the figure was male.

A chime soon sounded and a door on the other side of the stadium opened. Cynthia, a tall woman with long blond hair, wearing black pants, a black trench coat, and a black undershirt came out onto the battlefield. She was the leader of the Elite Four and second in ability only to the World Pokémon League Champion and Ash. She made her way out to the center of the battlefield and once she arrived, she looked over at Ash and gave a kind smile. She then pulled out a microphone and began the proceedings, proclaiming, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this special battle for the World Pokémon League Championship. Allow me to introduce the battlers for this Championship battle. To my left is the current Kanto League, Indigo Conference, Champion and Orange League Champion going on two years, Ash Ketchum!"

The crowd gave a standing ovation for Ash as he waved shyly at the crowd. He had not anticipated this battle being so heavily populated. He soon recognized that many of the occupants were Gym Leaders and other important Pokémon Trainers, as well as some specially invited spectators. He heard his mother cry from the stands, "Do your best honey!" He blushed as she called out to him and waved, beaming. He waved back at her, and all of his friends that were sitting near her, who returned his wave and smiled. Looking at the other half of the stands, he thought he saw the shadowy figure give a smile his way. However, when he looked up, the figure had darted back behind some of the spectators.

Cynthia then glanced to her right and the large entry door on the opposite end of the stadium opened. Light shone through the door, outlining a group of shadowy figures that were coming toward him. After a few seconds, the figures revealed themselves to be a human girl and six Pokémon. The Pokémon that accompanied the girl were a Venusaur, Starmie, Jolteon, Chandelure, Garchomp, and Tyranitar. Upon laying eyes on the girl, Ash was immediately fixated on her and he ignored her Pokémon, which upon thinking about it, surprised him since it was virtually unheard of for the opponent to reveal his or her Pokémon before the start of the battle. She looked to be the same age as he was, which greatly surprised him. He had expected the World Champion to be an adult. The girl had black hair, which fell past her shoulders, and blue eyes. She wore a sky blue sleeveless shirt over a black sleeveless undershirt and a red miniskirt. Ash's gaze was fixated on the girl and he could not take his eyes off of her. She was beautiful, but not in a romantic sense, at least not to him, which was surprising since she was the same age as he was and was wearing rather revealing clothing. If anything, a protective feeling came over him, which was really surprising for him.

She eventually arrived at took her place in the circle in at the other end of the field. He continued to stare at her and a feeling came to him. There was something familiar about her, and while he had never met her before, that he knew of, he could not shake the feeling that the two of them knew each other. "To my right is the current World Pokémon League Champion. She won the Johto Pokémon League at the tender age of ten and returned to her home region of Kanto and defeated the Kanto League at the age of eleven. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present, Leaf!"

The crowd gave a standing ovation for Leaf. She merely gave a curt nod to the crowd as they cheered and then focused her gaze on the section of stands to her right. As he heard her name, he did not recognize it. However, he also noted to himself that Leaf was not a common given name. In fact, he thought that it sounded more like a codename, especially since no last name had been given and she had a Venusaur, a Grass-type Pokémon, as one of her Pokémon. He figured that it was highly likely that Venusaur was her starter. Thinking for a bit, he remembered that Leaf was very famous in Kanto, for she had been the bane of Team Rocket, having defeated their leader, Giovanni, on three separate occasions and had brought Team Rocket to its knees on numerous occasions. It was said that Team Rocket had even placed a substantial bounty on her head. Rumor had it that it was six to seven figures. He did not know whether or not that was true, but given his own interactions with Team Rocket, when it was someone other than Jessie, James, and Meowth, he knew them to be quite powerful and dangerous. Anyone who could bring them to the brink of annihilation was a formidable opponent indeed.

Ash noticed her give a soft smile towards someone in the audience. Following her gaze, he saw that she was smiling towards the shadowy figure that was doing his best to hide from sight. He also noticed the shadowy figure flash a smile down towards Leaf, and give her a thumbs up. She gave one more smile before quickly turning to Delia and Ash's friends and flashing them a smile before turning towards Ash and focusing on him directly. His gaze met with hers and they both grinned. They both knew that they would win this upcoming battle. After a few moments, Cynthia spoke again. "This will be a six-on-six battle, no time limit. Each Pokémon will only be allowed the use of four moves in battle. In addition, only one Pokémon may be asleep or frozen at any given time. The battle will end when all six of either Trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. Deadly force is disallowed and will be cause for automatic disqualification, as well as prosecution, for both Trainer and Pokémon. Are there any questions?"

Ash shook his head. "No ma'am," he called in a loud, clear voice.

"I have no questions," Leaf began. Ash's eyes went wide with surprise and his mouth practically hung open, for he could have sworn that he recognized her voice from somewhere, only adding to the mystery of whether or not he had met her before, but could not place where he had heard it. "However, I do have a request. If it is okay with my opponent, I want Section One of the Old Rules to apply for this battle."

This request caused Cynthia's eyes to widen in surprise. "Old Rules?"

Leaf nodded. "Yes," she confirmed. "With Ash's permission, I want to invoke Section One of the Old Rules for this battle." She then focused on Ash, who did not know what she was talking about.

"What do you mean by 'Old Rules'?" he asked.

"Old Rules are the rules for the Pokémon League that were in place long ago when the leagues first began," Cynthia answered. "Among other things, the old rules allowed Trainers to have their Pokémon use deadly force in their battles. That is not what Leaf wants, though. Section One of the Old Rules stated that a Pokémon Trainer was like a general leading his or her troops into battle against an enemy army and general. As such, the Trainer was a legitimate target in the battle, and could also directly participate in the fighting as well. When most of the old rules were abolished fifteen years ago, Section One remained for five more years before finally being abolished, fearing that since humans were not a durable as most Pokémon, physically, that they could, and would, be hurt in the battles. As it is, for any of the Old Rules to be allowed for a battle, both sides must agree to the rule that is going to be used before the battle begins, though the use of deadly force is unauthorized even if all of the other Old Rules are invoked. Are you willing to accept Old Rules, Section One for this battle?"

For a moment, Ash was taken aback by the question. He had been taught, and it had been his experience, that Trainers were there to give commands to their Pokémon and to help bring out their full abilities on the battlefield, not participate directly in the fighting. He then looked at Leaf, who was carefully studying him. For a fleeting moment, he thought he had the feeling that she believed him to be a coward and a hypocrite; that he was someone who only cared about his own title of Pokémon Master, rather than about his Pokémon and that he did not really care about his Pokémon comrades. In addition, he could see in her eyes the question of whether or not his Pokémon had been brainwashed and forced to participate in this battle. Looking into her eyes, he quickly saw the accusation. It caused him to consider Cynthia's question. He had taken part in the action regarding his Pokémon fighting before, but that was mainly against Team Rocket, and that was a rare event that more often than not ended badly for him. Staring across the battlefield, he saw Leaf turn to her Pokémon and ask them a question. He then saw each of her Pokémon give a nod as they answered her question affirmatively. As he watched her, could not shake the feeling that there was something familiar about her, despite the fact that he had never seen her before today. Looking at Pikachu, and then looking at her Pokémon, each of whom looked as if they would be willing to die for her, and her for them, he realized that if he really deserved his own Pokémon's loyalty, he would go through everything that they had; and the one thing that he had not yet done was take part in a Pokémon battle directly on the battlefield. He looked down at Pikachu and said, "Looks like today's gonna be a first for us." Turning towards Cynthia, he called to her in answer, "I accept Old Rules, Section One for this battle."

"You do realize that by accepting this Old Rule, that you will be a legitimate target, and combatant, in this battle, don't you?" Cynthia asked. "You can sustain a non-debilitating, non-fatal, attack from any of your opponent's Pokémon during this battle. And if you are taken down and rendered unconscious that your Pokémon will have to continue without you, possibly dooming them to defeat even if not all of your Pokémon have battled. Do you understand?"

"I do," Ash replied.

"Then this battle will be a six-on-six Pokémon battle with the Trainers also being combatants and commanders. The winner will be decided when one team's Pokémon, are unable to battle, or enter battle, and the Trainer, either gives up, is forced, or lands, outside of the battlefield, loses consciousness, or unfortunately, kills his or her opponent and/or any or all of his or her Pokémon. Is that clear?"

"Yes," both Trainers replied.

Cynthia then held up her right hand. "The battle will commence once the battlefield is chosen! Once three of either combatant's Pokémon has fainted, a new battlefield will be set."

As she was explaining this, the scoreboard above Ash and Leaf lit up and the symbols for the various types of battlefield, appeared. A green grassy image appeared for a grass battlefield, while trees appeared for a forest battlefield. Rocky images appeared for a rocky field, and the image of a pool appeared for a water field. There were also fire/lava and ice fields to choose from as well. Once the images appeared, an arrow pointed to one of the fields. In the press box above the stands, a controller then spun a dial near his station, which was shown on the scoreboard. The spinner continued to spin for several seconds until it slowed down, eventually coming to a rest pointing to the image of the grass field. The grass field image lit up and the battlefield before them suddenly glowed. After a few seconds, the glow died down and the image of grass could be seen on the field before them. Ash did not know for certain whether the holograms were tactile or not, but he suspected that they were tactile and could be interacted with physically. He glanced up at the scoreboard and the image of the grass field was replaced by the faces of both himself and Leaf. There were six slots next to each combatant to signify the six Pokémon that would be used. The slots were blank, but would be lit when each trainer's Pokémon was sent out. Once the grass field had appeared, the final turn part of the pre-battle ceremony was determining who got to choose their Pokémon first. A circle with three red triangles and three green triangles appeared on the screen. A spinner then spun around and continued to spin until it landed on a red triangle. Cynthia turned to Ash and told him, "Ash, you have won the right to choose your Pokémon first, as well as been given the honor of initiating the battle. Cynthia brought down her hand in a chopping motion and cried, "Let the battle begin!"

Ash glanced down at Pikachu and asked, "Are ya ready, buddy?"

"Pika!" came Pikachu's enthusiastic response, the electric mouse clenching his fingers into fists with electricity crackling around his cheeks. He was quite ready for battle.

"Pikachu, I choose you!" Ash proclaimed loudly enough that no microphone was needed to pick up on his voice.

"Go, Tyranitar," Leaf said in counterpoint, pointing towards a large, menacing bipedal dinosaur-like Pokémon with dark green armor, fangs, with its fingers and toes culminating into claws. A bluish gray diamond-shaped piece of armor covered its belly and it had a large number of spikes on its head, neck, back, and tail. Leaf's Tyranitar stepped forward onto the grassy battlefield, shaking the field with each step. Leaf had a confident look on her face, though she showed no signs of arrogance or cockiness. Tyranitar shared her confidence, and also her lack of arrogance. This would be a difficult battle for Ash, for while Leaf and her Pokémon were confident in their ability to win, they did not let their power go to their heads. As Tyranitar appeared on the battlefield, a sandstorm suddenly came into being, stunning Ash, as well as his friends up in the audience.

"A sandstorm?" Dawn blurted from up in the stands.

Professor Oak nodded sagely. "Tyranitar's ability is Sand Stream. It allows the Pokémon to summon a sandstorm when the Pokémon comes out onto the battlefield."

"Is there any way to dispel the sandstorm once it's summoned?" Delia asked.

"One of Ash's Pokémon would need to alter the weather, itself, if he wanted to get rid of the sandstorm," Professor Oak answered. "And to make matters worse, a sandstorm that appears due to Sand Stream does not dissipate after a set amount of time the way a normal sandstorm would. It remains until the battle is over, or it is replaced with another weather condition."

Looking on, full of concern, May asked, "Does Ash have any Pokémon that can change the weather?"

"I don't know," Professor Oak answered. "I haven't seen the entirety of his team in quite a while. But from what I know, I doubt it."

The others then looked on with concern, wondering what Ash would do to counter the sandstorm, and Leaf's strategy.

Back down on the battlefield, Ash tuned out the announcer's play-by-play commentary and focused on the battle at hand. He was not concerned about the confidence of Leaf and her Tyranitar, for he had confidence in his Pokémon as well. Pikachu shielded his eyes from the buffeting of the sand as he tried to maintain his focus on Tyranitar. Ash, too was having some difficulty, but Leaf seemed to be having no issues whatsoever, having put on goggles to protect her eyes from the sandstorm. Locating Tyranitar, and pointing to the Pokémon, Ash called to Pikachu, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu's cheeks crackled with electricity and after a second, a yellow bolt of lightning was unleashed towards Tyranitar. While Pikachu had been powering his Thunderbolt, Tyranitar had not been idle. Several silver glitters of energy appeared around Tyranitar and grew larger as Pikachu unleashed his attack on Tyranitar. Despite the sandstorm limiting Pikachu's vision, his aim was true and the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon suffered a direct hit, tensing up a bit as it gave a growl of discomfort, though the attack was nowhere near strong enough to distract it from performing its technique. As such, the silver glitters grew in size until they became large, solid gray rocks. The rocks then imbedded themselves into the ground and burrowed underneath the ground until they were no longer visible.

Ash began to become concerned, for he did not immediately recognize the attack that Tyranitar used. "Be careful, Pikachu," he warned the electric mouse-like Pokémon. "She's up to something."

Up in the stands, Ash's Mother, Delia Ketchum, and the others looked down at the battlefield and were dumbfounded that Leaf's Pokémon had performed a move without being issued a command, as well as being concerned that Pikachu's Thunderbolt had inflicted such little damage to the Pokémon. "What attack was that?" Delia asked.

"Stealth Rock," Professor Oak replied.

"Tyranitar used Stealth Rock without being given an order?" Dawn blurted. "How would it know to do such a thing?"

"Don't underestimate Pokémon intelligence," came a voice from behind. It belonged to a young man in his late mid to late twenties wearing a red and black suit with a similarly styled cape. "They are far smarter than you know. That's why Mi…I mean, Leaf," he paused, catching himself, "only uses volunteers for her teams. She doesn't even keep them in their Poké Balls, save for infiltration missions, and even then, she does not activate the Poké Balls' seals. For all of her Pokémon, this is training for far more important future endeavors."

The others turned and May, Professor Oak, and Delia recognized the newcomer as being Lance of the Elite Four. "How do you know so much about Leaf?" May asked.

"Leaf is one of the Pokémon G-Men," Lance answered. "She also battled and defeated me when she rose in the ranks of Pokémon Trainers and became the Kanto Pokémon League Champion. She and her Pokémon used the same tactics against me and the other Elite Four members that she is currently using against Ash. That and one other tactic that Ash will have to realize she can use, and exploit his end of it, if he wants to have any hope of winning against her."

"Leaf's a member of the G-Men?" May exclaimed in disbelief.

Lance nodded.

"How? She looks like she's no older than Ash!"

"Actually, she _is_ Ash's age," Lance replied with a knowing smile that caused the others to wonder if there was something more to Leaf than met the eye. "And technically, she's not an official member, due to her age," he amended. "She's mostly a 'consultant', though she does participate in raids and in missions given by the agency." After hearing Lance's explanation, the group focused back down on the battle below them.

"Enough about Leaf, what about Ash?" May blurted. "First Tyranitar uses its ability, Sand Stream, to summon a permanent sandstorm, and now it uses Stealth Rock to hit any Pokémon that switches into battle. How can Ash contend with this?"

"Trust in Ash," Lance answered calmly. "He's been in trouble before and managed to get out of it."

"Yeah, but not like this," Dawn said, echoing May's concern. "Strategies like this would have taken down Trainers like Tobias, the Sinnoh League Champion."

"This very strategy _did_ defeat Tobias," Lance corrected, bringing a shocked gasp from both Dawn and Brock. "And Leaf did it without losing a single Pokémon. The only difference then was that she used Tentacruel, rather than Starmie, because Tentacruel knows Toxic Spikes and Tobias used only Legendary Pokémon, none of which was a Poison-type, which would have negated the Toxic Spikes, and none of who also knew Rapid Spin. Toxic Spikes, combined with Stealth Rock and Sand Stream gave her a quick victory. She could switch to Pokémon that had a type advantage, or simply switch out a Pokémon that needed a rest, while Tobias was trapped into using a single Pokémon, or switch and have his Pokémon constantly take hits from Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes, in addition to the severe poisoning of his Pokémon, as well as them being buffeted by the sands."

"Has anyone managed to defeat Leaf?" Delia asked after hearing her feats.

Lance shook his head. "Not since she became the Kanto League Champion, no. As far as I know, Leaf is completely undefeated in battle. Ash has an uphill battle ahead of him. But it's not hopeless," he added reassuringly. "There's a first time for everything. Maybe Ash will be the first to defeat her. He is uniquely qualified for doing so," he added.

The others then nodded and returned their focus onto the battlefield. Delia, May, and Dawn, then cried in unison, "Come on, Ash. You can do it!"

Back on the battlefield, Tyranitar had finished setting its rocks into the ground. Pikachu stepped into the area where the rocks had burrowed beneath the surface in order to see if it was a trap that had been set. When there was no reaction, both Ash and Pikachu let out a sigh of relief. It was not a new move that he had never heard of. However, just as he was beginning to feel some relief, he could not help but feel a small chuckle coming from his opponent. Looking across the battlefield, he saw Leaf staring at Pikachu and Tyranitar. Ash, viewing this as his best chance to attack and inflict damage with a super effective attack, called out to Pikachu, "Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

Pikachu complied and charged towards Tyranitar. His tail immediately became covered in iron and he jumped towards the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon. He performed a forward somersault as he was about to strike Tyranitar when Leaf cried, "Tyranitar, return!" She held out a Poké Ball and a red beam erupted from it, striking Tyranitar. The large Pokémon immediately turned into a red blob of energy and was drawn back into the Poké Ball, riding the beam of energy. Once it was inside the Poké Ball, Leaf immediately opened the ball, and a blue glowing blob of energy emerged from the ball. The energy soon transformed back into Tyranitar and he took his place next to the other Pokémon of Leaf's team. As for Pikachu, his Iron Tail attack slammed into the ground, gouging a hole that was at least a few meters in diameter and one meter deep. Leaf looked at the damage and was thankful that Tyranitar had not taken the hit, something that Ash managed to feel. Just as Tyranitar took his place back with the rest of the team, Leaf's second Pokémon stepped forward. This Pokémon was Garchomp. Garchomp was a dark blue Pokémon with a red underbelly that covered most of its abdomen. Its head was shaped like a that of a Hammerhead shark's, and it had fins protruding from its arms. It also had a dorsal fin and a tail that looked like a fish's tail. The Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon stepped forward and focused on Pikachu, who was beginning to look quite concerned at the prospect of facing a Pokémon like Garchomp when he was at a severe type disadvantage. Ash was also growing increasingly worried since Garchomp had come out without any order given by Leaf, and she appeared to not have any issue with Garchomp stepping out without authorization. It was almost as if this was the plan from the beginning.

Up in the audience, Ash's friends were shocked that Garchomp had stepped forward without a single word from Leaf. Dawn was dumbfounded that Garchomp had stepped onto the battlefield without authorization, and had grown even more concerned when Leaf smiled confidently, rather than recalled him. "She can switch Pokémon without giving any order?" she gasped, not bothering to hide her surprise.

"As stated before, don't shortchange Pokémon intelligence," Lance reiterated. "Leaf has trained her allies quite well. She is the general of this unit, but she is very willing to give her soldiers some leeway in the field, especially if it expedites the accomplishing of her mission. She _wants_ her Pokémon to be smart enough to be able to switch in without any verbal commands or hand signals, and to use attacks against opponents without direction. That keeps her opponents on edge and allows her to play mind games without uttering a single word. It also allows her to participate in the fighting, adding another fighting unit to the battle. And, should the unthinkable happen and she be taken out of the fight, her Pokémon allies can continue the battle."

"But it's almost as if this was her plan all along," Delia stated, noticing Leaf's grin. "Leaf's grinning almost as if this is all going according to her plan."

"Garchomp is powerful," Lance told him. "But he is not her best Pokémon. For this team, that title belongs to Venusaur."

"Who also has a type advantage over Pikachu," Tracey chimed in. "And if Leaf's smart, Venusaur will also know Sleep Powder."

"Which makes it more likely that Garchomp entering the battle was the plan all along, since she had a lot of counters for Pikachu."

"In addition to Garchomp being part Ground-type and thus, immune to Sandstorm," Tracey added.

"But why not bring in Venusaur and force Ash to use Charizard or Glalie?" May asked. "It's almost a certainty that Charizard is on his team and Stealth Rock would devastate him. Not only that, but if Ash also has Glalie, it, too, would suffer heavier than normal damage due to Stealth Rock."

"We may find out shortly," Professor Oak replied. "I have a feeling that Leaf knows that Charizard is on Ash's team. She just wants to find out who the rest of Ash's Pokémon are. Her refusal to keep her Pokémon in Poké Balls does give Ash one advantage. He knows all of the Pokémon on her team and he can plan a strategy accordingly."

"Assuming she doesn't already know who's on his team," Lance muttered in an ominous tone, one that Delia and Professor Oak quickly caught onto. They both wondered how Leaf would know which Pokémon were on Ash's team. The group then focused on the battlefield intensely, waiting to see what Ash's next move would be.

Back on the battlefield, Ash called out to Pikachu, "Pikachu, return!"

Despite wanting to remain on the battlefield and battle Garchomp, despite his disadvantage, Pikachu obeyed and turned and ran to Ash. "You did great, buddy," Ash told his friend. He took out a Poké Ball and tossed it onto the battlefield. "Go Snorlax!" Ash shouted.

The ball arced through the air and at the apex of its arc, hovered for a moment and opened. A large blob of blue energy emerged from the ball and landed on the field. An instant after it touched the ground, the energy formed into a large, fat bipedal dark gray Pokémon with a tan underbelly and face appeared, sparks flying off of his body as he touched onto the ground. It also had stubby legs and large feet with three claws at the end of each foot, along with relatively small arms. The Pokémon let out a deep, "Snorlax," in anticipation of the upcoming battle. Ash gave a grin as Snorlax prepared to fight Garchomp. As soon as Snorlax had exited the Poké Ball, the ball closed and returned to Ash, who caught it and clipped it back onto his belt.

Leaf only grinned as Snorlax appeared on the battlefield. Ash could not help but notice that it seemed as if she was expecting him to use Snorlax, rather than a more obvious Pokémon like an Ice-type Pokémon or a Water-type that could use Ice-type attacks, like Blastoise or another of his Water-types, or even a Ground-type due to the sandstorm. Just as Snorlax landed on the field, the rocks that had been imbedded into the ground rose up and floated into the air. They spun around for a second before flying in towards the Pokémon, colliding with him. Snorlax gave a grunt of pain as he was crushed between the stone pillars. Ash let out a gasp. _Stealth Rock_! he thought as he frantically considered what his next course of action would be. Next, the sand from the sandstorm buffeted Snorlax and while the large Pokémon suffered barely any damage from the sandstorm, he did feel it, and every little bit would add up in a prolonged battle. He would not be given much time to think on his strategy, though, for Snorlax's appearance was Garchomp's cue to exit the battle. Garchomp leapt high into the air and landed back among the rest of Leaf's Pokémon team.

Once Garchomp had taken its position back with the rest of Leaf's team, another Pokémon came to take its place. This Pokémon was a dog-like Pokémon with yellow fur that formed yellow spikes on its rear, and a white, spiky collar. The yellow fur could also gain the sharpness of needles. Ash immediately recognized Jolteon as it came out onto the battlefield, having faced Jolteons in the past. This surprised him since Jolteon was not immune to the effects of Sandstorm. The sands buffeted against Jolteon and it gave a grunt. Leaf began to look a little concerned and was fingering one of the Poké Balls at her waist. Seeing that this was a type neutral match-up, Ash decided to test Jolteon's strength. "Snorlax, use Body Slam!" he cried.

Snorlax acknowledged the command and jumped high into the air, his trajectory taking him directly towards Jolteon. Jolteon stood there unconcerned, a ball of electricity forming in front of his mouth. Ash gritted his teeth, for he knew that Jolteon was about to use Volt Switch and switch with one of Leaf's other Pokémon. The ball of electricity leapt from Jolteon's mouth and scored a direct hit on Snorlax and before he could land on Jolteon, the Electric-type Pokémon sped away and another of Leaf's Pokémon came out onto the stage as Snorlax crashed into the ground, throwing up a massive cloud of dust and debris. Looking out beyond Snorlax, Ash saw a Pokémon that resembled a chandelier was floating onto the stage; ghostly purple flames flickering on the four lamp-like structures on the sides of its head, as well as a flame coming up from the center of its head. He gave a scowl at the sight of Chandelure, a Pokémon whose line he had had bad experiences with in Unova. In fact, the Litwick and Lampent that he had encountered in a dilapidated mansion had been one of the few evil Pokémon that he had actually encountered. Ash then wondered why Jolteon had used Volt Switch. Looking over at Mia, he only saw her grinning. Mia? Where did that name come from? Was that Leaf's real name? He wondered what brought that thought on, and why it seemed to resonate with him so strongly. Who was she?

He did not know what to think and he froze for a moment as suddenly, a ring of gray energy balls surrounded Chandelure. Ash recognized the attack as Hidden Power, but did not know why it would be used for a second until he remembered that Hidden Power could take on the attribute of any attack type. The image of Hidden Power Fighting soon came to his mind and without thinking, he drew out Snorlax's Poké Ball and yelled, "Snorlax, return!" A red beam of energy emerged from the Poké Ball and struck Snorlax an instant before the Hidden Power energy orbs hit and the Normal-type Pokémon was recalled. The orbs struck nothing but air as they passed through the space that Snorlax had occupied an instant earlier and continued on until they crashed into the stadium wall well behind Ash. Ash grinned and selected another Poké Ball and tossed it towards the field. "Donphan, I choose you!"

The Poké Ball opened at the apex of its throw and again, a blue blob of energy was released. As with the other Pokémon that had emerged from Poké Balls, once Donphan came out, a series of sparks erupted from the Pokémon and Donphan gave a cry. Donphan was a light gray elephant-like Pokémon with a thick, dark gray to almost black band of hide that ran down his head and back. He also had four short legs with a dark gray band around each of them, as well as a pair of white tusks and elongated ears that were stiffly held to the side of his head. As soon as Donphan appeared on the battlefield, gray rocks rose from the ground and spun around the elephant-like Pokémon. They then converged on Donphan and collided with him. Since Donphan was a Ground-type Pokémon, though, he suffered only minimal damage and did not even grunt at the strike. Donphan then glared at Chandelure and gave a cry. The sands from the sandstorm that had been summoned by Tyranitar's Sand Stream buffeted against Donphan, but being a Ground-type Pokémon, the sandstorm did not affect him in the slightest. Ash realized that this was his chance to get rid of the Stealth Rock that had been placed onto the battlefield. "Donphan, use Rapid Spin!"

Donphan gave a cry and complied, curling up and appearing similar to a tire. Donphan then rolled in place, much like he would if he were preparing a Rollout attack. However, Donphan remained in place and began to dig up the ground. He rolled along the ground, digging it up, and exposing the stones from Stealth Rock. He barreled into the stones, but upon colliding with them, was unable to even dent them. Ash then heard Leaf call to him, "Rapid Spin doesn't work properly if you use it against a Ghost-type Pokémon. Even if you use it against the ground, only, there's something about Ghost-types that throws off a Rapid Spin." Looking out at Leaf, he saw her crossing her arms and smirking towards him.

Ash grimaced as Leaf gave him the advice. He had a feeling that there was something else going on, and he quickly realized what it was. Chandelure was simply floating there, a glow emanating from its body. Ash did not know what Chandelure was doing, and he did not care. He knew that he still had to get Chandelure off the battlefield so he could clear away the Stealth Rock. He knew that chances were that Starmie or Venusaur would be the next Pokémon called out and he hoped that Donphan would be able to weather the assault that either of those Pokémon would use against him. He called out to Donphan, "Donphan, use Stone Edge on Chandelure!"

Donphan gave a cry and raised his trunk as a series of white rings surrounded him. Stones from the ground soon rose to the rings and began to ride them. The Ground-type Pokémon targeted Chandelure, who was now in the process of powering a fire attack of its own. Before Donphan's attack was ready, Chandelure unleashed a blast of fire that looked like a human stick figure. As the Fire Blast was bearing down on Donphan, the Pokémon was finally ready to unleash his attack on the Ghost-type. A series of stones were then propelled towards Chandelure, several of the stones making contact with the blast of fire, while a few managed to fly around it and score direct hits on the Ghost-type Pokémon. Chandelure recoiled from the attack and gave a cry of pain as it was thrown backwards by the force of the super effective attack. However, it quickly recovered and continued to focus on Donphan. Not too far ahead of it, its Fire Blast was focusing on the main strength of Donphan's Stone Edge attack. The stones collided with the fire, but since Chandelure had used Calm Mind to power up both its special attack and special defense abilities, the Fire Blast was too strong for the rocks. Although significantly weakened, it was eventually able to overpower the attack and score a direct hit on Donphan. Since it was weakened, though, Donphan only sustained moderate damage. He gave a grunt as he took the attack, its power forcing him to slide backwards a few feet, but he endured the blow and was ready to continue the battle. Chandelure was ready to attack again when Leaf's voice rang out from behind it. "Chandelure, return!" she cried.

A look of shock came across Chandelure's face as it turned to face Leaf, obviously questioning her command. "Return Chandelure!" Leaf reiterated more forcefully. "You're too valuable a Pokémon to risk against Donphan this early in the battle. Take a few moments to catch your breath. You'll be needed later on."

Eventually, Chandelure acquiesced to Leaf's wishes and it floated back to the main party of Pokémon. After that, Venusaur and Starmie then turned to face her. After a moment, she focused on Venusaur and said, "Venusaur, you're up."

"Saur," came a deep masculine voice in reply as Venusaur stepped forward. Venusaur resembled a cross between a toad and a dinosaur. It had dark blue-green skin with toad-like warts on its legs, but its most prominent feature was the large flower that had bloomed on its back. It was a red flower with six large petals with white spots on it, supported by a brown trunk that looked somewhat like a fat palm tree trunk. In addition, as a Bulbasaur, Venusaur had been Leaf's starter and was her most versatile and useful, if not necessarily her most powerful in raw power, Pokémon. As Venusaur stepped out onto the battlefield, Ash grimaced. He knew that Donphan would get one shot before being either knocked out or forced to switch due to the type disadvantage.

As Venusaur appeared on the battlefield, it was buffeted by the sands from the sandstorm and gave a grunt, but did not seem to be too heavily bothered by the sand. Ash used this opportunity to clear away the rocks from Stealth Rock, calling out to Donphan, "Donphan, use Rapid Spin to clear away the rocks from Stealth Rock!"

Donphan obeyed and curled onto a ball and rolled around Ash's side of the battlefield, digging up the ground. As he rolled, he came upon the rocks from Stealth Rock and barreled into them. This time, though, the rocks shattered upon impact. After a few more seconds, the rocks were cleared and it was safe for Ash to switch his Pokémon once more without fear of having to deal with Stealth Rock. Gripping Donphan's Poké Ball, Ash called, "Good job, Donphan. Return!" He then returned Donphan to his Poké Ball and selected another Pokémon. "Snorlax, I choose you!"

This caused Leaf to raise her eyebrows. "Snorlax again?" she blurted, seemingly surprised. Despite her outward appearance of surprise, Ash had a feeling that she was merely acting, as evidenced by her slight grin when Snorlax reappeared. "You really don't know how to face a Trainer like me, do you," she muttered, though Ash seemed to hear her as clearly as if she had shouted it across the battlefield.

"Don't underestimate me or my Pokémon," Ash retorted.

"_Your_ Pokémon?" Leaf called back. "The only ones that Pokémon belong to are themselves." Ash could tell that he had struck a nerve. He also got the impression that she was a little disappointed in him, as well as a little angry. "You're a fool Ash Ketchum. You think you care about your Pokémon when in reality, you're little different from the other Trainers that I've faced, and slaughtered."

Ash almost chuckled. She sounded like a member of Team Plasma. He began to think that he could use Mia's, there was that name again, anger against her when he noticed a cloud of blue dust appear over Snorlax. Suddenly realizing what was going on, he cried, "Snorlax, dodge the Sleep Powder and use Ice Punch!"

Snorlax did his best to dodge the Sleep Powder, but the Pokémon was unable to escape the powdery cloud. The blue cloud covered Snorlax and the massive Pokémon immediately fell asleep, collapsing onto the ground. As Snorlax fell asleep, Venusaur began to glow, and the plant on its back began to grow larger, indicating that it was using Growth. This was Ash's cue to bring back Snorlax. Holding out his Poké Ball, he called, "Snorlax return!"

A red beam issued from his Poké Ball, struck the sleeping Snorlax, turning him into a red blob of energy, and drew him back into the Poké Ball. Ash gave a grin. He had her, as evidenced by Mia's grimace. "Charizard, I choose you!"

Tossing a Poké Ball onto the battlefield, the ball opened and an orange European dragon-like Pokémon with a tan underbelly appeared on the battlefield with a flame on the end of his tail. Charizard gave a roar and belched out a gout of flame towards the ceiling. A white light appeared on the field beneath the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon, which Ash took to be a safeguard that would prevent Charizard from falling asleep due to a Pokémon attack. Charizard was then buffeted by the sands from the sandstorm that had been summoned by Tyranitar's Sand Stream ability. He gave a grin as he called out to Charizard, calling, "Charizard, use Sunny Day!"

Charizard complied and the dragon-like Pokémon opened his mouth. A white ball of light appeared in his mouth and he launched it towards the skylight above the battlefield, where the sun's rays were shining through, the sun outside began to shine brightly onto the skylight, and down onto the battlefield. Light shown through the skylights and the sandstorm that had been raging on the field promptly vanished. Venusaur, however, had not been idle during Charizard's use of Sunny Day. It immediately went on the offensive and launched a Sludge Bomb attack on Charizard as he was using Sunny Day to clear the sandstorm and power up his Fire-type moves. Charizard saw the attack coming, though, and managed to dodge the brown ball of sludge that was launched his way from the top of Venusaur's plant. The ball of sludge landed a ways away from Charizard and exploded in a cloud of brown poison, posing neither him, nor Ash, any danger. Leaf then called, "Venusaur return!"

Venusaur immediately retreated from the battlefield with blinding speed, far more than Ash would have suspected given its size. The rest of the team then turned to Leaf, waiting for her orders since any number of them could go out and counter Charizard. She turned to Tyranitar and told him, "You're up again Tyranitar."

Tyranitar gave a roar and ran onto the battlefield. As he did so, the rays of sunshine shining down onto the battlefield from the skylight vanished and a sandstorm was brewing once more. Ash knew that this Charizard's cue to exit. Ash pulled out his Poké Ball and called him back, calling, "Charizard return!" Just before the beam was emitted from the Poké Ball to bring back Charizard, though, Tyranitar surged forward to Charizard and collided with him, forcing the air out of the dragon's lungs. Just then, the beam struck Charizard and he was drawn back into the Poké Ball, but not before suffering damage from Pursuit.

Up in the stands, Ash's friends and mother looked down on the battlefield, their concern for how the battle was turning out evident on their faces. They had had a moment's relief when Ash had gotten rid of the Stealth Rock, but that moment was soon replaced when Snorlax had been put to sleep and Charizard took a strong hit from Tyranitar's Pursuit. While one attack did not decide a battle, the group was quick to notice that Ash had failed to land any serious blows on Leaf's Pokémon, the only noticeable hit being Pikachu's Thunderbolt on Tyranitar. Lance merely watched with a smirk. "She's doing it again," he said casually.

"What do you mean?" Delia asked.

"Leaf's battle plan is not simply to overpower her opponent, but to have her opponent beat himself," Lance explained. "Look at how she's battling. She's drawing out Ash's Pokémon and seeing what his team consists of. Ash has revealed four of his six Pokémon, and one of them is asleep, with another having taken a serious hit from a strong Pokémon of Leaf's. If this keeps up and it remains nothing more than a switching contest, Ash will lose, for when Leaf finally decides to go on the offensive for real, his team will have been worn down in the opening phase of this battle."

"This battle's not over yet," Tracey noted. He focused on Ash and his expression, and noticed him grinning. "And from the looks of things, Ash has a plan of his own."

Lance looked down at Ash, and then at Leaf, who seemed to be grimacing. "Well, well. It looks as if he may be catching on," he mused. He continued to focus on the two combatants, hoping that he was correct and that Ash was about to make a fight of it.

Back down on the field, Ash cried, "Donphan, I choose you!" He tossed the Poké Ball onto the field and it opened up, letting out Donphan onto the battlefield once more. Donphan gave a cry and stomped the ground. The sands of the sandstorm summoned by Tyranitar's Sand Stream buffeted the Pokémon, but did not inflict any damage. Ash grinned. It was time for him to correct a mistake that he had made earlier. "Donphan, use Stealth Rock!"

Several silver glitters rose from the ground and began to spin around Donphan, eventually growing into large, gray stone pillars. The stones soon imbedded themselves in the ground and were buried into the ground. As Donphan was setting up his Stealth Rock, Tyranitar set up its own. Ash had suspected that Tyranitar would set up a Stealth Rock, though, and knew that he would be able to pick his move, for Mia would be loathe to switch a Pokémon into a Stealth Rock. However, he did not want to leave Leaf's Stealth Rock on the battlefield, so he commanded Donphan, "Donphan, use Rapid Spin to clear away Tyranitar's Stealth Rock!"

Donphan gave a cry and curled itself into a ball and proceeded to roll around the battlefield and clear the Stealth Rock that Tyranitar had laid down. After the rocks were cleared, Donphan rolled straight towards Tyranitar and collided with the large Pokémon, forcing it back a few feet, but only inflicting minimal damage to it. Donphan immediately uncurled himself and Ash ordered, "Donphan, use Earthquake!"

Donphan then stomped the ground, causing it to shake. Just before his feet struck the ground, though, Leaf pulled out Tyranitar's Poké Ball and brought him back without saying a single word. Tyranitar was evacuated from the battlefield just as Donphan's feet slammed into the ground, causing it to shake violently. The shaking caused Leaf to lose her footing and concentrate on remaining upright. She wobbled on the ground, barely able to keep herself from falling until the shaking subsided. Once it had subsided, she called over to her team, saying, "Starmie, I choose you! Go!"

A purple starfish-like Pokémon with a red jewel in its center as its core jumped into the air and spun around as it floated onto the battlefield. It gave a high-pitched, feminine cry, despite being labeled in the official World Pokédex as being genderless. As it landed, several gray rocks emerged from the ground and floated into the air. They spun around Starmie and the Pokémon took to the air to try to evade them. However, the rocks zeroed in on Starmie like magnets and collided with it, causing it to give off a grunt of pain. Starmie quickly landed gracefully and gave a confident cry as it focused on Donphan.

Ash knew that with Starmie having appeared that it was time to bring out another Pokémon. Not wanting to give away the fact that he had a Serperior, as well as the fact that he did not want to reveal his strategy with Serperior, he decided to send in Pikachu. He called back Donphan, crying, "Donphan, return!" Once Donphan was drawn back into his Poké Ball turned to his starter and best friend said, "Are ya ready, Pikachu?"

Pikachu clenched his fingers into fists and gave an enthusiastic, "Pika!"

"Then go!" Ash cried, pointing towards Starmie.

Pikachu rushed onto the battlefield, electricity sparking from his cheeks, eager to take on Starmie. Leaf, however, did not think like Ash and was unwilling to send in a Pokémon that had a type disadvantage unless she either had no other choice, or it was a part of a plan. As Pikachu was summoned to the field, though, Starmie had used Rapid Spin to clear away the rocks from Donphan's Stealth Rock. Now both sides of the field were clear of any entry hazards. Knowing that Leaf would not want it to remain in a situation where it had a significant disadvantage, it retreated from the battlefield. As soon as Starmie had retreated, Garchomp stepped forward, about to jump onto the battlefield when it was stopped by Leaf's cry. "Wait!"

Garchomp stopped in its tracks and it, along with the rest of the team, turned to focus on her. She knew that if Garchomp appeared on the battlefield, that Ash would immediately bring in his Blastoise to deal with it, which she could deal with by using either Jolteon or Venusaur, but she decided to throw him for a loop, and give him the idea that she was beginning to get impatient with all of the switching that was going on. She smirked as she said, "Jolteon, engage."

The dog-like Pokémon stepped onto the battlefield, prompting Ash to grin. She had lost her patience and was challenging the strength of his Pokémon directly with this choice. As Jolteon stepped onto the battlefield, both it and Pikachu were buffeted by the sandstorm, taking minor damage from the attack. It was then that he began to wonder why she had suddenly decided to go this route, rather than keep chipping away at his Pokémon's health with each switch. He also considered sending in another Pokémon to deal with Jolteon, but decided against it, for he, too, was fed up with beating around the bush. He wanted to face her directly for the first time and get this battle going. He would play her game. After all, Pikachu was one of his strongest Pokémon, and he knew that Pikachu could defeat Jolteon. He did not notice Leaf's grin as he kept Pikachu in the battle.

Up in the stands, Delia and the others watched the battle and noticed that Leaf had sent out Jolteon to deal with Pikachu, rather than allowing Garchomp to fight, or even sending in Venusaur. "Looks like she's getting impatient and finally decided to fight Ash up front," Dawn noted with a sense of satisfaction.

"Don't be so sure," Lance cautioned. "Leaf always has a plan. And if you notice, it's Leaf whose grinning right now."

Professor Oak nodded. "And Ash isn't switching to another Pokémon. I fear that he doesn't know what he's in for."

"What do you mean, Professor?" Dawn asked.

"Jolteon's ability is Volt Absorb," Oak explained. "If Pikachu uses his Electric-type moves on Jolteon, Jolteon will merely absorb them and use them to restore its own health. Not only that, but even though Jolteon is restricted to four moves, if it charges up its fur, it can cause its fur to stand on end and become as sharp as needles, making an already not very effective Iron Tail, hazardous for Pikachu to use. And the danger doesn't go away if Pikachu decides to use Quick Attack, either."

"I see," Dawn replied as she focused back on the battlefield below. "Come on, Ash, you can do it," she said waveringly as Pikachu and Jolteon were about to do battle.

Ash initiated the battle when he pointed at Jolteon and yelled, "Pikachu, use Quick Attack!"

Pikachu gave a cry as he hunkered down for a few seconds and then launched himself at Jolteon with blinding speed. Jolteon was ready, though, and use a weak Thunderbolt on itself to cause its hair to stand on end and become needle-like. Pikachu scored a direct hit on Jolteon, forcing the dog-like Pokémon back a few steps, but it was Pikachu who came out the worse for the wear. Jolteon's hair had managed to stab Pikachu and, while he was not bleeding, the attack had been quite uncomfortable, giving a grunt of discomfort as he jumped away upon making contact with Jolteon's needle-like fur. Ash quickly realized that he had to come up with a new strategy. "Pikachu, use Iron Tail on Jolteon's head!"

Pikachu obeyed, charging towards Jolteon as his a silvery glow flashed around his tail before it appeared to be covered in metal. Jolteon merely stood still as Pikachu attacked and opened its mouth, a purple orb of energy appearing in front of it. All the while, both Pokémon were being buffeted by the sandstorm. As Pikachu approached, he swung his tail at Jolteon, but just before he managed to score a hit, Jolteon sped away from Pikachu, causing Pikachu to hit nothing but air. Once Jolteon was a safe distance away from Pikachu, it unleashed its Shadow Ball towards the electric mouse. Without direction, Pikachu used Quick Attack to speed away from the Shadow Ball, barely managing to avoid it. The ball landed a few feet away, where it gouged a crater into the battlefield, blasting a hole that was at least two meters in diameter and one and a half meters deep. Both Ash and Pikachu's eyes went wide at the power of Jolteon's Shadow Ball. Ash knew that Pikachu would have to make this a ranged battle quickly, for that would be the only real way that he would be able to inflict damage to Jolteon without taking a serious hit in return. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" he cried.

Pikachu complied and powered the electrical attack. Once it was powered, a bolt of lightning was unleashed upon Jolteon. Once the bolt of lightning struck Jolteon, electricity arced across its body, but it inflicted no damage at all. Instead, it healed Jolteon from all of the damage that it had taken from the sandstorm. Once Jolteon was healed, Leaf called out to it, "Jolteon, you've done great. Return!"

Jolteon then ran back to the rest of the team and Leaf opened Tyranitar's Poké Ball and the large Rock/Dark-type emerged. Once he was out, she looked him in the eye and asked, "Are you ready?"

Tyranitar nodded.

"Go!" Leaf said, pointing to Pikachu.

As Tyranitar stepped onto the battlefield, Ash was surprised, as was everyone else, that she would send out Tyranitar. While Tyranitar was quite powerful, he had no real type advantage over Pikachu, and Jolteon had shown that it was able to neutralize all of Pikachu's electric moves, and was only vulnerable to Quick Attack and Iron Tail, the latter of which had a type disadvantage against Electric-type Pokémon, while Jolteon had at least one powerful ranged attack that could inflict significant damage to Pikachu if it hit.

Ash looked over at Pikachu and said, "I'm through switching. If you want, Tyranitar's yours."

Pikachu gave a grin and cried, "Pika!" Ash took that to mean that Pikachu was ready to go. He then declared, "Alright Pikachu, go and use Thunderbolt on Tyranitar!"

Pikachu's cheeks began to spark as he powered the Thunderbolt. As he did so, Tyranitar set up another Stealth Rock on the battlefield, causing Ash to grimace. As soon as he was finished, Pikachu had unleashed the Thunderbolt on Tyranitar. Electricity arced across Tyranitar's body upon impact and the massive Pokémon demonstrated its discomfort by giving a groan. However, it did not seem to take much damage from Pikachu's attack. Ash grimaced as he saw Tyranitar withstand the attack and then a series of white rings form around him. He knew what came next. He called out to Pikachu, "Pikachu, use Quick Attack!"

As the rings were still forming, Pikachu used Quick Attack on Tyranitar and with blinding speed, closed the distance between him and the massive Pokémon. When he hit Tyranitar, the Pokémon barely felt the attack, but that was not Ash's goal. He then cried, "Pikachu, use Iron Tail on Tyranitar."

Pikachu's tail immediately turned into metal and he jumped into the air, flipping forward and tried to bring his tail down on Tyranitar's head. Tyranitar, however, raised his left arm and caught Pikachu's tail, shocking both Pikachu and Ash. With tremendous force, he threw Pikachu to the ground and used Stone Edge on him. Pikachu, however, was quick to recover and managed to avoid the initial barrage of stones using quick attack. Tyranitar, however, had anticipated the point where Pikachu would stop to catch his breath and launched the rest of the stones at that point. One of the stones landed right in front of Pikachu, prompting Pikachu to flee from the rest of them. He managed to avoid a second stone, but the rest of them zeroed in on him and scored direct hits on the Electric-type Pokémon. Each hit forced Pikachu backwards, causing him to grunt with the attack. The last stone sent Pikachu flying into the air and he crashed into the ground a few feet away, skidding to a halt. He quickly recovered, though, and fired off another Thunderbolt at Tyranitar. Again, the increased special defense of Tyranitar due to the sandstorm limited the damage that the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon took, but Pikachu's attack _did_ manage to do something worse to Tyranitar. Yellow sparks of electricity arced across Tyranitar's body as he went to launch another attack but was unable to move. He had been paralyzed. Seeing this, Ash had Pikachu take the initiative, calling, "Pikachu, use Iron Tail on Tyranitar!"

As soon as the order was given, Pikachu's tail transformed into metal once more and he jumped into the air. He spun around and was about to ram his tail into Tyranitar's head when he was blindsided by an unknown attacker. He felt a weight collide with him abdomen and slam him to the ground. Ash's eyes went wide as he looked out onto the battlefield through the sandstorm and found Leaf, rubber gloves covering her forearms, pinning Pikachu to the ground. Pikachu was struggling against her strength, but she kept her hands on him, pushing most of her weight on him, keeping him pinned. He tried to use Thunderbolt to shock her and give himself an opportunity to get off, but her rubber gloves, a feature that she did not have before, insulated her hands and kept her safe from his attack. "That won't work on me, Pikachu."

On the ground, Pikachu looked up and saw that his attacker was none other than Leaf, herself, something that greatly surprised him since Trainers rarely entered the battle along with their Pokémon, and never during official tournaments or Elite Four battles. Just then, though, he noticed something else about her that greatly surprised, as well as disturbed him. She smelled very similar to Ash, despite being a girl, and despite the fact that he had never seen her once before, and it was clear that Ash had never met her before, either. His ears perked up as he noticed her smell, and turned his head to look back at Ash, who stood there, frozen. "Yes, Pikachu," Leaf said, confirming his suspicion. "Your suspicions are correct. Now we'll see just how much my brother really cares about you, and the others." She then kept him pinned as a large shadow came over the two of them. Looking up, Pikachu saw Tyranitar looming over them, a menacing grin on his face and several circles surrounding his body, a clear sign that he was powering Stone Edge. And with Leaf pinning him flat with her rubber glove-covered hands, he was helpless to do anything to save himself.

Ash watched from the edge of the battlefield, shocked to see Leaf pinning Pikachu to the ground. He had never felt so helpless before. Pikachu struggled to rise, attempting to shock Leaf with a Thunderbolt once more, but failing once again, as several rocks formed on the glowing energy rings around Tyranitar. Tyranitar was slow to power and unleash his attack, looking at Leaf as if he were waiting for orders. Through the sandstorm, Leaf looked up at Ash and glared. "So, are you just going to stand there or help him?" she asked harshly, motioning towards Pikachu.

Ash fingered a Poké Ball and drew it out. He knew that Pikachu did not like Poké Balls, but he also knew that if Pikachu took a direct hit from that Stone Edge, he would suffer a great deal of damage, if not be rendered unable to battle. After a few seconds, Ash decided that it was his only real option to get Pikachu out of danger. "Pikachu, return!" he cried as he held up Pikachu's Poké Ball and fired a red beam at him.

"Wrong move!" Leaf cried as she intercepted the attack, moving between Pikachu and Ash and raising her gloved hand to intercept the red beam. Despite the rubber taking the hit, the beam washed over her and stunned her for a moment. However, even though she was stunned and Pikachu was suddenly able to move, it was not enough to save him, for Tyranitar unleashed the full fury of his Stone Edge on the electric mouse from point blank range. Gray rocks rained down on him, bombarding the Electric-type Pokémon. Pikachu grunted with each hit and tried to focus enough to launch a counterattack in order to stop Tyranitar's assault, but he was too weak.

After a few seconds, the rain of stones mercifully stopped and Pikachu was able to try to move. However, he had suffered a great deal of damage from the attack and was struggling to rise. Leaf eventually backed off a bit, standing next to Tyranitar, who turned to her as if asking whether or not he should finish Pikachu. She replied, "Finish the fight."

Tyranitar nodded and focused on Pikachu, who was unsteady in his gate. Not wanting to waste energy using Stone Edge, Tyranitar ran towards Pikachu, intending to finish him using basic martial arts. Ash, seeing Tyranitar charging Pikachu, called, "Pikachu, return!"

Pikachu immediately turned to Ash and rushed towards him. However, Tyranitar used Pursuit and instantly caught up with Pikachu. He collided with the mouse and sent him flying through the air, and into the wall. Pikachu smashed into the wall, severely cracking it, and sliding down, unconscious. Upon seeing that Pikachu was unconscious, Cynthia held up the green flag and declared, "Pikachu is unable to battle. Tyranitar is the winner!"

Ash rushed over to Pikachu and held him, cradling him in his arms. Pikachu slowly opened his eyes, looking sad, and weakly croaked, "Pikapi." He then winced, in obvious pain from the attack.

Up in the stands, Ash's friends and family looked down at the battlefield glumly. "Pikachu lost!" May noted warily. "And Leaf directly fought in that battle!"

"Mm hmm," Professor Oak echoed, nodding. "And from the looks of it, it appeared as if Pikachu and Tyranitar were relatively evenly matched before Leaf entered the battle."

"Ash forgot the rules," Lance said from behind the rest of the group. "He was caught off guard by Leaf entering the battle directly and fighting alongside Tyranitar. Unfortunately, for him, she'll likely see his lack of entering the fight to save Pikachu to mean that he doesn't care about his Pokémon when nothing could be further from the truth. In her mind, actions speak far louder than words."

"How will that affect their battle?" Delia asked.

"It will make her focus more on beating Ash," came Lance's answer. "She's already a Champion Trainer and is far more experienced than Ash in fighting high-level battles like this. Her experience, combined with her powerful Pokémon will give her a significant edge over Ash. However, it's not too late for him to turn the tide. He'll just have to do what she does and truly fight alongside his Pokémon. If he doesn't, then he'll never beat her." He then focused on the battle and quietly said to Ash, "Don't let her accusations get to you. Remember the rules, and trust in your Pokémon friends and you'll be fine."

Back down on the battlefield, Ash cradled Pikachu and looked into his eyes, his face beaming, trying to reassure Pikachu. "You did great Pikachu," he said kindly. "You deserve a good, long, rest."

"He most certainly did better than his useless coward of a Trainer, that's for sure," Leaf scoffed contemptuously from the middle of the battlefield.

Ash turned to face her and glared. "What's the meaning of that, Mia?"

Leaf scoffed, ignoring the use of her given name. "I'm following the rules," she retorted with a shrug. "Trainers are allowed, and expected, to fight alongside the Pokémon they send into battles. They're a team, not master and slave. I guess you aren't as close to Pikachu as you wanted us to think." She then gave a cocky grin.

Her accusation and seeming arrogance infuriated Ash and he cried, "You're wrong! We'll beat you and show you that our bond is strong, stronger than anything!" He then took out a Poké Ball and tossed it into the air. "Donphan, I choose you!"

Donphan's Poké Ball then opened, releasing the Ground-type Pokémon onto the battlefield. Just as Donphan appeared, several gray stones rose from the ground, spun around, and converged on him, colliding with him but inflicting minimal damage. Ash then stood there, glaring at Leaf, who merely quipped, "This time, you might actually want to fight alongside your Pokémon." This merely prompted a glare and growl from Ash. The second phase of the battle had begun.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Ash and Leaf continued to glare at each other as Donphan awaited Ash's command. Ash turned to Donphan and commanded, "Donphan, use Rapid Spin to clear away the Stealth Rock!"

Donphan curled into a ball and rolled around the battlefield, clearing away the rocks from Tyranitar's Stealth Rock. As Donphan was clearing away the rocks, though, Tyranitar initiated his next attack. A ball of blue energy formed in front of Tyranitar's mouth and a series of light blue beams erupted from the ball. The beams fired on Donphan, but the Pokémon managed to maneuver around them and avoid taking any damage. As the beams struck the ground, small mounds of ice formed. Tyranitar then swept his Ice Beam attack towards Donphan, but the Ground-type Pokémon was able to stay one step ahead of his opponent. Eventually, Tyranitar's body seized up and the beam ceased and gave Donphan a chance to launch an attack. "Donphan, use Earthquake!" Ash commanded.

Donphan complied and stomped the ground with his two front feet. Immediately upon stomping on the ground, the ground began to shake furiously. Both Leaf and Ash struggled to maintain their footing, but the Earthquake was affecting Tyranitar far more noticeably. Since he was part Rock-type, he had a vulnerability to Ground-type attacks like Earthquake and was taking twice the normal amount of damage. Still, despite the damage that he was taking, he was still able to continue the battle.

Leaf, however, was a little more concerned for Tyranitar's safety and she called out to him, "Tyranitar, return!"

Tyranitar looked back at her and shook his head, refusing the command. Leaf grimaced and she commanded again, "Return, Tyranitar. We've had this discussion before!"

Tyranitar then issued a series of growls towards Leaf, who drew out her Pokédex and held it on him. Ash figured that she was using it to translate his language. He decided to take advantage of the argument and told Donphan, "Use Stealth Rock!"

Donphan complied and a series of gray glitters formed around Donphan. After a while, they grew into large, gray stones that imbedded themselves into the ground and buried themselves. Leaf saw Donphan deploy his Stealth Rock and she told Tyranitar, "Return! I need Starmie to clear those rocks. Not only that, but Starmie has an advantage over Donphan. You can't let your pride get the better of you!"

Still, Tyranitar refused, issuing more growls and shaking his head again. Reading the translation, she found that Tyranitar believed that he still had the ability to defeat Donphan and he told her to have faith in him. Seeing that there was little point in continuing the argument, she eventually answered a little harshly, "Fine, have it your way. You want to deal with Donphan, deal with him. But if you get in trouble, I'm pulling you out."

Tyranitar nodded and gave a growl in affirmation. He then turned to focus on Donphan. The first thing he did was to lay down Stealth Rock again, hoping that Ash would try to clear away the rocks, giving him an opening where he could attack. A series of gray glitters formed around Tyranitar, which soon grew into large, gray stones that imbedded themselves into the ground and were buried. As Tyranitar was laying down the Stealth Rock, though, Donphan stomped the ground and performed another Earthquake without direction from Ash. The ground shook violently and a series of rings spread out from the epicenter of the quake, the ground splitting apart and rocks being thrown into the air. Tyranitar nearly fell to the floor after losing his balance. The energy of the ring spread throughout his body and inflicted more damage to him. He fell to one knee and was breathing heavily. Seeing that he was on the ropes, Ash called over to Donphan, "Donphan, use Rapid Spin to clear away those rocks one more time!"

Donphan complied and curled into a ball in order to clear the rocks, but Tyranitar had other ideas. He zeroed in on Donphan just as he curled into his ball and a blue and white ball of energy formed at the edge of his mouth once more and he fired a series of blue beams at Donphan. This time, though, his aim was true and he managed to score a direct hit on the Ground-type Pokémon. The beam struck Donphan in the center of mass and a wall of ice expanded from the point of impact. The ice wall expanded and began to encapsulate the elephant-like Pokémon. After a couple seconds, Donphan was completely encased in ice. Tyranitar gave a dark smile and began to approach Donphan, eager to finish off the Pokémon. However, before he could finish the Pokémon, Ash pulled out Donphan's Poké Ball and cried, "Donphan, return!"

The red beam erupted from the Poké Ball, however, before it reached Donphan, Tyranitar used Pursuit once more and rocketed towards the frozen Pokémon, scoring a solid hit on him. Fortunately, though, the ensuing punch that Tyranitar threw did not crack, or shatter, Donphan. The red beam soon struck Donphan, transformed him into energy, and drew him back into the ball. Once he had been safely pulled back, he pulled out his Pokédex to check on Donphan's condition. Besides being frozen, he was also very low on health. Had he remained in that battle, it was doubtful that he would have been able to win. Scanning Tyranitar, though, he saw that the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon had also suffered some serious damage, too, in addition to being paralyzed. Seeing this as his best chance to give Snorlax a chance to awaken, he tossed out his Poké Ball, yelling, "Snorlax, I choose you!"

The Poké Ball opened and Snorlax came out onto the battlefield. As he landed on the field, he fell to the ground, still asleep and snoring audibly. A smile was plastered onto his face. As he came onto the battlefield, though, rocks rose from the ground, spun around the sleeping Pokémon, and slammed into him, inflicting more damage. Ash looked over at Leaf and her eyes were wide with shock for a few seconds before a look of comprehension crossed her face and she began to understand Ash's plan. She gave Ash a dark grin, and then turned to Tyranitar and told him, "Tyranitar, finish Snorlax quickly before he gets a chance to awaken!"

Tyranitar charged forward, preparing to launch his next attack when he his body suddenly seized up and he fell to one knee, electricity arcing across his body. Ash issued a silent prayer of thanks that Tyranitar was suffering from his paralysis. He called out to Snorlax, crying, "Wake up! You've gotta wake up before Tyranitar manages to attack again!"

Still, Snorlax could not hear Ash's pleas. Tyranitar, taking Leaf's advice went on the attack, a ring of gray rocks surrounding his body as made ready his attack on the sleeping Snorlax. Seeing Tyranitar's ring of rocks in preparation for using Stone Edge, Ash cried once more, "Snorlax, wake up!"

Ash's call got through to the massive Pokémon, for as soon as he had made the cry, and Tyranitar had launched the rocks towards Snorlax, the sleeping Pokémon awakened and jumped away from the attack. A look of shock crossed Tyranitar's face and suddenly, a blue light shown forth from the area on the ground that Snorlax was standing on in order to ensure that no subsequent attack that had freezing as a side effect would freeze the Pokémon. The stones landed a ways away from Snorlax, throwing up a large cloud of dust and leaving several holes in the battlefield, but the rotund Pokémon had escaped taking damage. Snorlax then charged Tyranitar, curling the fingers on his left arm into a fist and a bluish-white ball of energy formed around the fist. He quickly arrived at the Pokémon, knocking away the few rocks that were remaining in Tyranitar's Stone Edge attack and punched Tyranitar with an Ice Punch. The punch sent Tyranitar staggering backwards a several steps. Tyranitar was far from finished, though. A blue ball appeared in his mouth and he prepared to launch an Ice Beam at Snorlax, prompting a concerned look from Leaf, since she knew it would not freeze him solid. Snorlax took in a deep breath and bellowed, "Snore," as he used Curse to increase his own attack and defense, at the cost of his speed. Tyranitar then unleashed the Ice Beam attack, which scored a direct hit on Snorlax's head. The attack forced Snorlax back several feet but did not inflict a great deal of damage on him. Snorlax curled his hands into a fist once more, with a bluish-white glow surrounding the fist, and threw a punch at Tyranitar's head. Tyranitar ducked and the fist sailed over his head. Tyranitar countered again and he threw a basic punch, which shocked Leaf. As he threw the punch, Snorlax used Curse again to raise his attack and defense even more, though cutting his speed even more in the process. The attack scored a direct hit on Snorlax's head, but he did not sustain any real damage since Tyranitar was merely using a basic natural strike, rather than an attack like Mega Punch or Superpower, due to the tournament's restrictions. Leaf grimaced at Tyranitar's recklessness. "Tyranitar, don't use close combat attacks if you can't use strong close range techniques!" she roared. "Use your strong ranged physical attacks!"

Tyranitar growled at Leaf's admonition and continued to close the distance with Snorlax and engage in hand-to-hand combat, rather than back away and take advantage of ranged attacks, and Snorlax's lack of speed. "No!" Leaf roared. "Use Stone Edge!"

Seeing that Tyranitar was not obeying her and that Snorlax was drawing back his fist for an Ice Punch that would almost certainly hit Tyranitar, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She pulled out Tyranitar's Poké Ball and yelled, "Tyranitar, return!" A red beam was shot from her Poké Ball and it struck Tyranitar, converting him to energy, and drew him into the ball. Once he had been drawn back into his ball, she let him out so he could rejoin the rest of her team. Once he was let out, she glared at him and admonished, "Don't do that ever again, or I'll let you stay in and get KOed by the enemy!" She then looked over her team and eventually settled on sending out Chandelure as her Pokémon of choice for dealing with Snorlax. "Chandelure, go!" she cried, harshly pointing towards Snorlax. Despite her harsh tone, her anger was reserved only for Tyranitar, and she was sorely tempted to put him in a battle that he was he was certain to lose later on as punishment. She shook off the feeling and took a few deep breaths in order to calm herself down. She would worry about dealing with Tyranitar later, though. Right now, she had to focus on Chandelure and give it directions should it be necessary.

Chandelure floated out onto the battlefield and as it did so, pillars of stone rose from the ground, orbited the Pokémon, and then collided with it, inflicting noticeable damage to Chandelure. The Pokémon recoiled and gave a grunt of pain. As Chandelure recovered and focused on Snorlax, Ash found that he had a choice to make. He could either recall Snorlax and send out a frozen Donphan, hoping to defrost him, but negate any buffs that Snorlax had built up with Curse, or keep Snorlax out in his powered up, but slower, state and hope that he could close the distance with Chandelure before Chandelure eventually wore him down. Eventually, he decided that it would be best to keep out Snorlax, hoping that Chandelure would use a Fire-type attack and give him a chance to switch Donphan into the fire attack so he could be defrosted. He called out to Snorlax, "Okay Snorlax, use Ice Punch on Chandelure!"

Chandelure closed its eyes and began to glow, indicating that it was using Calm Mind, as Snorlax pulled back his fist, a bluish-white glow surrounding the fist, as he charged towards the chandelier-like Pokémon. Snorlax gave a cry as he threw his attack, but Chandelure quickly floated up and over Snorlax's punch. Several rings of glowing gray balls emerged from Chandelure and were unleashed upon Snorlax at point blank range. The balls struck Snorlax in the head, sending him sprawling backwards. Ash grimaced as Snorlax took the hit. "Snorlax, no!" he cried as Snorlax rolled a few feet backwards. Still, he had managed to get Chandelure into position, for the chandelier-like Pokémon was beginning to power a fire-type attack. He soon saw a blast of fire in the shape of a human erupt from Chandelure and streak towards Snorlax. This was his chance. "Snorlax, return!" he yelled as he pulled out his Poké Ball and returned Snorlax to the ball. He then threw out another Poké Ball and cried, "Donphan, go!"

The frozen form of Donphan emerged from his Poké Ball and landed directly in the path of the Fire Blast. The blast of fire scored a direct hit on Donphan and immediately defrosted the Ground-type Pokémon. However, the attack was so powerful, due to the Calm Mind power up, that it did not only defrost Donphan, but it still managed to inflict some damage as well. After defrosting, Donphan slumped towards the ground a bit, but managed to maintain his footing. Still, he was panting heavily from the damage that he had already suffered, and the Stealth Rock hit that he sustained, despite him having a type advantage against the attack, still hurt. Still, he was now defrosted and he would be able to defend himself against attack.

Up in the stands, Ash's friends and mother intensely watched the battle. Their eyes were focused on the battlefield, and their ears tuned to the announcer. The announcer was waxing about the brilliance of Ash's strategy for defrosting Donphan. "Wow, that was a brilliant move on Ash's part," Dawn said, reiterating the thoughts of the announcer.

The others had merely breathed a sigh of relief after seeing how both Tyranitar and Chandelure were inflicting significant damage to Snorlax. Professor Oak and Lance were not so sure, though. "We'll see," Oak said guardedly. "While Donphan was defrosted, Chandelure's Calm Mind did allow it to power up its special attack and special defense abilities by quite a bit. And with Thick Fat as his ability, Snorlax is on relatively even footing with Chandelure in a fight, especially since its special defense is already quite high."

"Yeah, but Donphan has a type advantage over Chandelure in knowing Stone Edge, doesn't he?" May asked.

Professor Oak nodded. "Indeed, but he still has to take advantage of this edge, and hope that Leaf does not know what he is thinking."

"Why hasn't Ash brought out his two remaining Pokémon yet?" Delia asked. "If he has a Water-type, it would be perfect to use against Chandelure."

"There's more to a Pokémon battle than just type advantages," Tracey interjected. "Anyone who travels with Ash knows that firsthand."

"Yeah, but I don't see what disadvantages that a Water-type would have against Chandelure," Delia continued.

"Especially since none of Ash's Water-type Pokémon are part Psychic-type, either, as far as I know," May added. "And all of them have ranged water attacks, something that would be useful against Chandelure. Ash also needs to have Donphan remove Stealth Rock, so it would be foolish to lose him here."

"I know," Professor Oak agreed, nodding. "Let's just hope that he plays it smart."

Back down on the battlefield, Ash called over to Donphan, "Can you keep going?"

Donphan gave a cry and raised his trunk into the air. Ash took that to mean that he was still able to battle. "Okay, then, use Stone Edge!"

Donphan complied and several rings began to form around the elephant-like Pokémon. As they formed, several loose stones rose up from the ground and began to orbit Donphan. Once a large number of stones had been pulled from the ground, he launched them towards Chandelure. However, as he had been powering up his Stone Edge, though, the Fire/Ghost-type Pokémon had been preparing to launch a Fire Blast of its own. It unleashed a massive blast of fire from its center, the blast headed straight for Donphan. As it was being fired, Donphan unleashed his Stone Edge on the chandelier-like Pokémon. The two attacks collided in midair and remained suspended for a few moments before the greater power of Chandelure's Fire Blast began to make headway on Donphan's Stone Edge. From the sideline, Ash called over to Donphan in support, "You can do it, Donphan!"

Leaf also called over to Chandelure in warning, "Watch out for any stones that manage to get past the fire!" Sure enough, just as with the first Stone Edge used against Chandelure, a few of the stones that were not fired directly into the path of the Fire Blast flew unabated towards Chandelure. Chandelure took several direct hits from the stones, but most of the stones were focused towards the Fire Blast, which was slowly making its way towards Donphan. After a while, Donphan was running out of stones and the blast of fire had not been extinguished. Once the last group of stones had been fired, missing the Fire Blast completely, but managing to score direct hits on Chandelure, the Fire Blast rocketed forward unabated towards Donphan. "Donphan, dodge it, quick!" Ash called out in warning, but it was too late. The Fire Blast attack scored a direct hit on him and exploded, sending him flying. Donphan landed a few feet away and rolled along the ground. Once the attack was finished, he tried to rise, pushing as hard as he could so he could stand up and continue the fight, but it was not to be. He collapsed onto the ground and remained there for ten seconds. Ash looked down glumly and then glanced across the battlefield and saw that Chandelure was also on the ground. Leaf was standing over the Pokémon, swirls in its eyes, indicating that it, too, was unable to battle. The last volley of rocks from the Stone Edge had managed to knock out Chandelure. Either that, or the sandstorm took out the last bit of Chandelure's remaining health. Cynthia then raised both flags and declared, "Both Pokémon are unable to battle! The battle is two-to-one in favor of Leaf!"

Looking down at the battle, hope was returning to the hearts of Ash's friends and mother. "He did it!" Dawn exclaimed. "He took down Chandelure! And with Tyranitar having taken heavy damage and suffering from paralysis, he may be able to pull this off!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Lance cautioned. "Tyranitar is not out of this yet, and Ash lost his one Pokémon that we know knows Rapid Spin. Don't forget that he did not clear the Stealth Rock from the battlefield, so whichever Pokémon he selects next will take damage from it."

"The same goes for Leaf," May interjected. "She'll also take Stealth Rock damage."

"But her strongest Pokémon isn't incredibly weak to Rock-type attacks," Professor Oak countered. "Charizard is. And Charizard is Ash's strongest Pokémon and I don't think that he can win, whoever he ends up fighting, if he takes a full hit from Stealth Rock."

That gave the Dawn and May something to consider. Professor Oak, Tracey, and Delia merely focused on the battle below. They knew that it was coming to a head. Whichever moves the combatants made from here on out, would likely decide the outcome of the battle.

Back on the field of battle, Leaf was the first to choose her combatant. "Starmie, go!"

Starmie then jumped into the air and floated onto the battlefield, giving a cry as it entered the battle, and was promptly smashed by a series of rocks. Starmie was quick to recover, though, and focused on Ash's side of the field. Ash saw Mia's choice and carefully weighed his options. He knew that Starmie was quite powerful and could field a tremendous array of attacks, including Ice-type attacks. In addition, the only Pokémon that he knew had a clear advantage over Starmie was Pikachu, and he had fainted. Eventually, he decided to take a risk and called out, "Snorlax, I choose you!"

Snorlax's Poké Ball sailed through the air and it opened, releasing the large Pokémon once more. Snorlax landed on the ground with a stomp and the ground began to shake. Snorlax then gave a confident cry. Ash knew exactly what Mia was planning as Starmie began to spin around in an effort to clear away the stones of Stealth Rock. Ash called over to Snorlax, ordering, "Snorlax, use Body Slam on Starmie when it gets close!" He knew that Snorlax was not the fastest Pokémon in the world, but he was definitely fast for his size and was quite capable of hitting Starmie. However, Starmie proved to be quite fast, itself, and managed to evade Snorlax's attempts at crushing it. While Snorlax futilely tried to score a hit on the much faster and more evasive Starmie, the starfish-like Pokémon plowed through the rocks, shattering them with single hits. Eventually, Ash saw that this was no good and he told Snorlax, "Use Ice Punch!" He knew that Ice-type attacks were not very effective against Water-type Pokémon, but Ice Punch had a chance of freezing Starmie and if he could freeze it solid, he could hopefully force another, less versatile, Pokémon to come out and face his team.

Snorlax threw an Ice Punch towards Starmie, but the attack sailed over the spinning Pokémon. As soon as it had sailed over the Pokémon, Starmie turned to attack. It fired a vicious stream of water from its core, which struck Snorlax squarely in the face. Snorlax gave a grunt of surprise and discomfort as he was forced onto his back. "Snorlax, get up!" Ash called as he noticed Starmie floated away from Snorlax so it could attack from a safe distance. Once it had floated away, yellow sparks of electricity began to crackle across its body as it prepared a Thunderbolt attack. Ash called to Snorlax, "Snorlax, use Body Slam on Starmie, one more time!" However, he said it in a way that Snorlax knew meant that he should launch another attack shortly after he used Body Slam. He had a feeling that Starmie would merely float away as Snorlax attempted to land on it. Sure enough, Starmie did just as Ash had expected, but just as Snorlax collided with the ground, he pushed his fist forward and tried to connect with a quick Ice Punch. Starmie had been expecting such a ploy, however, and jumped above the attack as it unleashed its Thunderbolt on Snorlax. Snorlax gave a groan as electricity arced across his body and his body began to seize up. Snorlax was paralyzed.

"Snorlax, use Rest!" Ash directed, knowing that Rest would allow Snorlax to recover from the damage that he had taken, as well as get rid of his paralysis. Unfortunately, Snorlax's body seized up and he was unable to move. Starmie took advantage of his immobility by firing off another Hydro Pump at Snorlax. Since Starmie was only a few feet away, there was no way it could miss. The attack struck Snorlax in the face and sent him sprawling to the ground and rolling along towards Ash. Ash scurried out of the way as the massive Pokémon rolled by. Starmie was not finished yet, though. It followed up with a second Thunderbolt, and that was all that Snorlax could take. Snorlax let out a cry as the bolt of lightning struck him, electricity arcing across his body. After a few seconds, the electrical attack stopped and Snorlax was lying still, his chest still rising and falling, indicating that he was alive, but he was in no condition to continue battling. After ten seconds, Cynthia held up the green flag, proclaiming, "Snorlax is unable to battle. Starmie is the winner!" Ash could hear the crowd cheer as he recalled Snorlax. "You did great, Snorlax. You deserve a good rest," he said to the Poké Ball. He then clipped the ball to his belt.

As soon as Snorlax had been returned to his Poké Ball, Cynthia then spoke once more. "Three of Ash's Pokémon are unable to battle. As such, it is time to change the battlefield."

Up in the audience, Ash's friends were beginning to worry. "Oh no," May murmured. "Snorlax was beaten without taking down any of Leaf's Pokémon. He was one of Ash's strongest Pokémon."

Dawn echoed May's sentiments. Professor Oak, however, sagely advised them, saying, "Don't count him out, yet. The battle's far from over."

"It won't be if Ash doesn't get his act together," Dawn stated worriedly. "Can't he see that Leaf's strategy is to attack from long range with special attacks? If he doesn't do something to counter her strategy, this battle will be over before he knows it."

"This isn't the only tight spot that Ash has found himself in," Tracey interjected. "He's gotten out of worse situations than this."

"Yeah, but not against the World Pokémon League Champion," Dawn countered, her concern clearly evident. "This type of hole is a lot harder to climb out of against high level opponents."

"Yeah, but don't forget that Ash has inflicted a lot of damage to Leaf's Tyranitar," May stated. And if he takes down Tyranitar, then Leaf won't likely have any other Pokémon that can use Stealth Rock."

"Assuming Ash has another Pokémon that can use Rapid Spin," Lance countered with a smirk, indicating that he knew something that the others did not.

The group then turned their attention towards the scoreboard as it was about to choose the next battlefield that Ash and Leaf would be battling on.

Starmie retreated back to the rest of the team, but was certain to stay at Leaf's side as the scoreboard showed the various types of fields that were available for choosing. The grass field, which was currently selected, was blacked out, showing that it was not available as a choice. The spinner appeared on the screen and began to spin around. The spinner continued to spin for several seconds until it began to slow down. After a couple more seconds, it came to a stop on the image of a water/ice field. Ash gave a grin while Leaf grimaced. Only Starmie would benefit from a water field, while her other Pokémon would be restricted in their movements, making them easier targets. Leaf knew that she would have to be careful in this next phase of the battle.

The two combatants watched as the hologram of the grass field disappeared and was quickly replaced by a pool of water with a single island in the center, and several icebergs all throughout the pool. Leaf almost gave a sigh of relief. It was not so bad after all. Only Tyranitar would have issues here, and she could simply wait it out and not use him unless absolutely necessary. As such, since it was a water/ice field, she decided to keep Starmie out and told it, "Go!" Starmie immediately jumped into the air and to the center island.

Ash, however, was considering his options. He knew that Charizard was out of the question, since Stealth Rock was still in play, and Starmie was a Water-type Pokémon. That left his two unrevealed Pokémon. Deciding to go with a Pokémon that had a type advantage, he took out a Poké Ball and yelled, "Serperior, I choose you!"

The Poké Ball arced in the air and opened. A blob of blue energy emerged from the ball and landed on the side of the pool. The energy soon transformed and a pale green snake-like Pokémon. Its face and the upper part of its neck were white and there were dark green extensions spread out from the lower part of its neck, forming a curling pattern down the body. The extensions resembled a collar. As Serperior appeared on the battlefield, a feminine cry of, "Serperior," came from the Pokémon. Ash knew that it was risky to use Serperior now, especially since Starmie was genderless and likely had an Ice-type attack, but he felt as if Serperior's type advantage over Starmie would even things out since her attacks would get a same type attack bonus (or STAB). Not only that, but her ability, Contrary, would allow her to get a boost in power every time she used Leaf Storm. Pointing to Starmie, Ash cried, "Serperior, use Leaf Storm!"

Serperior gave a cry and stood erect as she spun around, leaves the same color as her body appeared around her with green outlines and were then fired directly at Starmie. Starmie countered by firing a beam of ice from one of its arms at the incoming storm of leaves. Several of the leaves were frozen in a block of ice, but some of them managed to get around the Ice Beam and score a direct hit on Starmie. Starmie recoiled from the leaf strikes, giving a high-pitched cry as it fell backwards. The starfish-like Pokémon then jumped into the water and submerged itself beneath the surface of the water. "NO!" Leaf cried as Starmie jumped into the water, for she saw Ash grinning on the other side of the field.

"Serperior, use Toxic on the water. Spray as much poison into it as possible!" he commanded.

"Ser," came Serperior's reply, along with a nod, as she stood erect once more, opened her mouth, and sprayed a purple stream of poison into the pool surrounding the island. The pool was deep and Ash doubted that the Toxic spray would outright poison Starmie. As she was spraying poison into the water, though, Ash cautioned her, "Be careful of Starmie's counterattacks." His advice was taken as a stream of poisoned water came jetting towards Serperior. Despite not having any legs, the serpent-like Pokémon managed to coil herself into a spring and jump into the air, allowing the Toxic Hydro Pump to sail beneath her. She countered with another Leaf Storm. The leaves surged towards the water and breached the surface, rocketing towards Starmie like torpedoes despite the fact that the poison filled water had slowed them down significantly. The leaves scored direct hits on Starmie and, despite the fact that they were weakened by having to travel through the sludge filled water, they still inflicted noticeable damage on Starmie.

Seeing that staying in the water was hazardous to its health, Starmie jumped from the water and landed on the small island in the middle of the pool. Once it landed, it stumbled forward and had difficulty maintaining its footing. Ash saw this as his chance and he told Serperior, "Serperior, finish it up with Energy Ball!"

Serperior complied and she opened her mouth, a green ball of energy forming in front of it. Starmie was not out of the fight yet, though, and just as Serperior launched her Energy Ball, Starmie launched an Ice Beam at Serperior. Both attacks crossed the distance between their respective users and their targets, not interacting with each other, and streaked towards their targets, scoring direct hits on their respective targets. The Ice Beam struck Serperior and a wall of ice spread out from the center of the blast, but the wall did not close around her. She backed away from the wall as it fell and shattered. Serperior was still shivering due to the ice and a blue glow showed on her front, but she was still able to battle. The same could not be said for Starmie, who had also suffered a direct hit and had been blown into the water. Starmie was submerged for a few seconds before it resurfaced, its red jewel core flickering before going out, indicating that it had fainted. Cynthia held up a red flag, proclaiming, "Starmie is unable to battle. Serperior wins!"

The audience erupted into cheers as the victor was declared. Leaf pulled out her Poké Ball and recalled Starmie back to her. When she did so, she told Starmie, "You did great. Get some rest. The others will pick up where you left off."

Up in the audience, Ash's friends and his mother were cheering as the battle seemed to be turning, for the moment. "Wow," Dawn exclaimed. "He did it! He scored a victory against her without losing a Pokémon in the process."

"Don't get too cocky," Lance warned. "It was only a minute or so ago when things were looking really bad for Ash and you were worried that this battle would end very quickly. Things can change in an heartbeat in these types of battles."

"Yeah, but we already know all of Leaf's Pokémon," May countered. "Leaf has yet to see all of Ash's Pokémon, or the abilities of all of Ash's Pokémon. Leaf, however, has shown a great deal of her Pokémon's abilities in this battle so Ash knows what he's facing."

"But knowing is only half the battle," Lance countered. "And Ash lost half of his team in the process. Leaf still has four of her Pokémon ready to go; and each of her remaining Pokémon are both powerful and versatile. It won't be easy for either of them."

The others nodded. Tracey looked over at Delia and noticed that she had been quiet throughout most of the match. Professor Oak also noticed this and asked her, "Delia, what do you think about the battle, so far?"

The question caught Ash's mother off guard, for she had been focusing on Ash and Leaf, noticing some sort of resemblance between the two of them, particularly in their stance and even in their looks a bit. However, what she seemed to recognize in Leaf was that her eyes looked very much like her husband's, and she did not know whether that was a good sign or bad. She looked over at Ash and noticed that he was a lot more focused in this battle than he had ever seemed to be before. He had always been her little dumpling, a ten year-old boy to her who had just left on his Pokémon journey. However, today, there was something different. She saw him maturing before her very eyes. He was not the impetuous youth that he had been in so many other regions, particularly when he had started his journey and when he had gone off to Unova. While she felt that she should have been proud of him, and she was, she also wondered why this sudden change seemed to be taking place. Eventually, she remembered that Professor Oak had asked her a question and she looked over at him, noticing that he was awaiting her answer. "Oh, uh, I think it's…good," she answered awkwardly, not knowing what to say. She did not want to voice all of her conflicting thoughts at this moment and give them something to worry about, something that Ash might pick up on and cause him to lose his concentration. Quickly looking at the scoreboard to see the score, she added, "I think that it could go either way at the moment, but I feel as if Ash will pull through and win this."

"I hope you're right," Professor Oak said. The group then sat and watched as the battle continued.

Back on the floor, Leaf had already released Starmie from its Poké Ball and set it down next to Chandelure. The two Pokémon would be able to watch as the battle continued. She then looked over that the Pokémon that were still able to battle and called out, "Garchomp, join the fight!" Garchomp then jumped from the sidelines and onto the island at the center of the pool, being careful not to jump into the water, which was now a pool of sludge thanks to Serperior's Toxic attack.

Seeing that Serperior would have a difficult fight ahead of her against Garchomp, and since she had taken a direct hit from Starmie's Ice Beam, Ash pulled out her Poké Ball and called, "Serperior, return!" Again, a red beam emerged from the Poké Ball and struck Serperior, transforming her into energy, and drawing her back into the ball. Once she was recalled, he gazed at her Poké Ball, smiling, and told her, "You were awesome out there, Serperior." He then took out another Poké Ball and tossed it onto the field, exclaiming, "Blastoise, I choose you!"

The Poké Ball sailed into the air and opened. Out came a large, blue, bipedal turtle-like Pokémon with a tough brown shell, and two high-powered water cannons that jutted out from the top of his shell. As he emerged, he cried in a deep, masculine voice, "Blastoise!"

As Blastoise came onto the battlefield, several pillars of stone rose from the ground and orbited the tortoise-like Pokémon and then smashed into him. Blastoise gave a grunt as he withstood the attack, but he did not back down. He stepped forward towards Garchomp and was buffeted by the sandstorm that was raging. However, Ash brought him out not only to deal with Garchomp, but also to clear away the Stealth Rock from the battlefield. "Blastoise, use Rapid Spin to clear away the Stealth Rock!" Ash commanded.

Blastoise complied and curled into his shell. He then began to spin around and clear the field of the Stealth Rock, smashing down each and every stone pillar that rose from the ground. Garchomp took advantage of this momentary lull in the battle to spin around and power himself up using Swords Dance. As soon as Garchomp had powered himself up with Swords Dance, a red aura outlined the Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon, along with his eyes glowing red. He then rushed towards Blastoise with reckless abandon as he used Outrage on Blastoise. This was an unfortunate mistake on Garchomp's part as his charge was in a straight line, giving Blastoise a chance to line up a shot on him. "Blastoise, use Ice Beam!" Ash cried.

Leaf looked on as Garchomp charged and cried, "No Garchomp, use Earthquake instead!" It was of no use, though, since Garchomp had already initiated the attack. As he approached Blastoise, the tortoise-like Pokémon opened his mouth and a bluish-white ball of energy formed in front of it. A single blue beam emerged from the ball, targeting the charging Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon. Miraculously, the Ice Beam attack missed Garchomp by inches, Garchomp's Sand Veil ability saving the Pokémon from its own recklessness, for the moment. As soon as the attack missed, Garchomp swept its arm and shark fin-like appendage towards Blastoise, scoring a direct hit on the Pokémon. Blastoise was sent skidding back a few feet from the hit, the attack inflicting noticeable damage. Still, Blastoise was not out of the fight yet.

He quickly recovered and took aim at Garchomp once more. Again, he targeted the outraged Pokémon and fired his Ice Beam once more. This time, he managed to score a direct hit on Garchomp. The beam stopped Garchomp in his tracks for a few moments and inflicted massive damage on the Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon, which had a quadruple weakness to Ice-type attacks. The blast of ice struck Garchomp in the chest and a wall of ice formed in front of him. Despite suffering a direct hit from the Ice Beam, Garchomp continued his charge. He smashed down the wall of ice that had formed in front of him and continued on towards Blastoise once more. He threw another punch at Blastoise, but the tortoise managed to duck underneath the first blow and fire another Ice Beam at Garchomp. Unfortunately, this beam missed as well, sailing wide left of Garchomp, and landing dangerously close to Leaf, forcing her to back away.

After this attack had failed, Garchomp continued on his rampage, catching sight of Ash and the still fainted Pikachu. He charged towards them, drawing back his fist in preparation for attack. He threw his fist, but Ash managed to dodge it. He then threw an ineffective punch on Garchomp, which the Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon barely felt. However, the punch had done its job, for Garchomp was now focusing on Ash, rather than Pikachu, or Blastoise. However, Blastoise was not finished and he launched another attack on Garchomp, firing a pulse of water from his water cannons. The streams of water blew through the sands that were buffeting him and managed to score a hit on Garchomp, sending him flying towards the wall. The hit not only inflicted significant damage to Garchomp, but also caused him to turn his attention away from Ash and back onto him.

When Garchomp focused on the tortoise-like Pokémon, the red aura died down around him and his eyes seemingly returned to normal. However, the Pokémon appeared to wobble as he made his way towards his opponent, and attacked everything around him, including himself. Garchomp was suffering from confusion due to the effects of Outrage. Despite his confusion, though, he still managed to remain lucid enough to use Earthquake as one of his attacks. Seismic shockwaves were sent through the ground, cracking and splitting it as rings of energy expanded from the location where Garchomp was standing. Blastoise steadied himself and groaned as the Earthquake inflicted significant damage to him. After a few seconds, the attack was over and Blastoise was breathing heavily. Despite the type advantage he possessed, Garchomp's Sand Veil ability had managed to make this battle significantly more difficult than it should have been, and the Sandstorm that had been raging was also taking its toll on Blastoise. Still, the tortoise was not out of the fight yet.

He targeted Garchomp once more and fired another Ice Beam at the confused Pokémon. The beam erupted from Blastoise's mouth and crossed the distance between the tortoise-like Pokémon and the Land Shark Pokémon. The Ice Beam scored a direct hit on Garchomp and was the deciding move in the battle. Garchomp was forced backwards after taking the direct hit and landed on the ground hard, ice forming around the abdomen of the body. As he hit the ground, the ice cracked and shattered, but it did Garchomp little good as he had already fainted. Seeing that Garchomp was unable to continue fighting, Cynthia raised the red flag for Ash and declared, "Garchomp is unable to battle. Blastoise is the winner!"

The audience gave a standing ovation for Ash and Blastoise as Blastoise rushed back over to Ash. Leaf returned Garchomp to his Poké Ball and then released him, allowing him to rest alongside the other Pokémon that had fainted in the battle. Once she had made certain that Garchomp was comfortable, she looked back at Ash and smirked. He was tougher than she thought he would be. His Pokémon were strong. But her Pokémon were tough, too, and they did not rely on her to give verbal commands the same way Ash's Pokémon did. After a moment, Cynthia then proclaimed, "Since three Pokémon of Leaf's are unable to battle, we will have another battlefield change."

Up in the stands, hope was returning to Ash's friends since the battle was now even once more. "He's doing it!" Dawn proclaimed. "He might actually be able to pull this off!"

"Yes, he might," Lance echoed in reply, looking down at the battlefield as Leaf recalled Garchomp. He was a little surprised that she had kept Garchomp in the fight when Blastoise had been summoned, but Garchomp had inflicted significant damage to Blastoise, meaning that it was likely that Leaf's next Pokémon would be able to take him down. Not only that, but both Blastoise and Serperior had taken some serious hits. Only Charizard was still fresh, though Lance knew firsthand that Charizard was a difficult opponent to defeat.

He looked over at the others and saw that they were fixated on the battlefield, despite the fact that it was in the midst of a field change. He then continued to look on. This next phase of the battle would be the deciding phase of the battle.

The scoreboard above the battlefield soon showed a circle with pizza slices showing the various types of fields that could be chosen. The water field was blacked out since it was already in play. A spinner soon appeared and began to spin around. After a few seconds, it began to slow down, and after a couple more seconds, it landed on the triangle that showed a forest scene. The pool and island immediately disappeared and pillars of light rose from the ground as tactile holograms of a forest setting, complete with a tree house in one of the trees. Leaf grimaced at the selection of the forest setting as the final stage. _So now the forest is selected_, she thought sarcastically, knowing that the forest setting would have been put to great use by Garchomp and possibly even by Starmie. Looking at Ash, she called out to him, declaring, "This is it, Ash Ketchum. Now, we will see who is the true World Pokémon League Champion!"

Ash returned her gaze and replied, "Yes, we will! And I'll win, Mia!"

Leaf smiled at the use of her given name. "We'll see," she replied as she looked over to her Pokémon. "Jolteon, stand by for battle!" she called in a tone reminiscent of one who was in the military. The dog-like Pokémon obeyed and rushed onto the battlefield. Jolteon then stared down Blastoise and gave a confident cry as the final phase of the battle had begun.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

As Jolteon stepped forward to begin the battle, Ash held out Blastoise's Poké Ball and recalled him, calling, "Blastoise, return!" Blastoise retreated back into his Poké Ball and once he was safely inside, Ash beamed at the ball and said, "You were amazing, Blastoise. You deserve a good rest." He then gripped another Poké Ball and called, "Serperior, I choose you!" He tossed the Poké Ball into the air and Serperior emerged from it, appearing on the battlefield and giving a cry.

Upon seeing Ash switch Pokémon, she cried out to Jolteon, "Serperior's a Grass-type Pokémon; fight accordingly!"

Jolteon gave a cry of, "Jolt," in addition to a nod of affirmation, indicating that it had heard Leaf's warning.

After hearing that Jolteon was being warned of Serperior's type, he did not want to take any chances. "Serperior, use Attract on Jolteon!" he cried.

Serperior gave a nod and looked over at Jolteon. She then winked at him and a series of pink outlines of hearts emerged from her eyes. As the hearts rushed towards Jolteon, the Electric-type Pokémon unleashed a series of blue orbs in front of it. The orbs orbited Jolteon for a few seconds before being fired directly at the pink hearts that were filling in. The orbs collided with the hearts, plowing through them with ease, and headed straight for Serperior. Being taken off guard by the attack, Serperior suffered a direct hit. The orbs collided with the snake-like Pokémon and forced her backwards with each hit. She landed a few feet away and rolled to a halt. After she had come to a halt, she attempted to rise, only to find herself unable to do so. As she struggled to rise, she was then blasted by a Thunderbolt by Jolteon. Electricity arced around Serperior's body for several seconds and continued to do so even after the Thunderbolt had ceased.

Ash watched the battle, grimacing with the Hidden Power hit that Serperior had taken, followed by the Thunderbolt. He surmised that the Hidden Power was either of the Ice or Fire-type since it had been so effective against Serperior. He watched as Serperior struggled to rise, electricity still arcing across her body. As she rose, she quickly fell back to the ground, obviously paralyzed. However, she was not finished yet. Knowing that it would be risky to use Leaf Storm at the moment, Ash decided to try a new tactic. "Serperior, use Toxic on Jolteon!"

Serperior fired a purple spray of poison from her mouth, but Jolteon quickly ducked behind a tree to avoid the spray, the spray hitting a patch of grass close to the tree and soaking into the ground, "killing" the holographic grass. Seeing that Jolteon could use cover to avoid the Toxic spray, Ash ordered, "Serperior, use Leaf Storm!"

Serperior then stood erect and spun around as multiple leaves formed around her. She then launched them towards Jolteon, who quickly ducked behind one of the trees. Serperior, however, was undaunted and she directed her leaves to follow Jolteon. They sliced through weaker tree branches and some of them managed to score a glancing hit on Jolteon. The others were imbedded into the tree that Jolteon had taken cover behind, and stuck in the bark.

Jolteon looked back at Leaf, who motioned for it to find a way to retreat from the battle quickly. To that end, a ball of electricity formed in front of Jolteon's mouth and it fired on Serperior. Serperior tried to move out of the way of the Volt Switch blast, but the paralysis that had been inflicted by Jolteon's last Thunderbolt slowed her movements and she took a direct hit from the ball of lightning. The attack did not inflict much damage, but it _did_ allow Jolteon to quickly retreat to the rest of the remaining Pokémon for Leaf. Tyranitar immediately charged onto the battlefield and wasted no time getting into the fray. However, his movements were relatively slow and clumsy due to the fact that he was paralyzed. Serperior quickly began to launch an attack on Tyranitar, but her body seized up and she was unable to move. Tyranitar took advantage of Serperior's immobility and fired a single Ice Beam at her. His beam scored a direct hit on Serperior in her center and she was sent flying as a block of ice formed over her midsection. She hit the ground and rolled for a few feet before coming to a halt. Ash ran over to her as she was shivering from the ice. "Come on, Serperior, you can do it!" Ash said, trying to coax Serperior back into the battle. However, despite Ash's urging, she was unable to move, and after ten seconds, Cynthia declared, "Serperior is unable to battle. Tyranitar is the winner!"

Ash gritted his teeth in frustration at himself for Serperior's condition, but he still smiled at her and said, "You did great, Serperior. You deserve a good, long, rest." He then returned her to her Poké Ball and sent out his next to last Pokémon. "Blastoise, I choose you!"

Blastoise's Poké Ball arced through the air and then opened, releasing Blastoise onto the battlefield once more. As he emerged, he cried, "Blastoise!"

Ash then called out to him, "I'm countin' on ya. Go!"

Leaf then called, "Tyranitar, return!"

This time, the massive armored Pokémon obeyed her command without question and retreated back to the rest of his team. "Go Jolteon!" Jolteon rushed onto the battlefield once more, self-generated electricity arcing across its body in preparation for the battle against Blastoise.

Ash did not intend to give Jolteon much chance to attack, deciding to take the initiative, calling to Blastoise, "Blastoise, use Hydro Pump!"

Blastoise gladly obeyed and trained his water cannons on Jolteon. As Jolteon was preparing to fire its Thunderbolt, it took the direct hit from the Hydro Pump, sending him flying along the path of the water, and into one of the trees. Jolteon hit the tree hard, giving a grunt of discomfort and fell to the ground, landing on its feet. It then growled and prepared another Thunderbolt. Looking on from the Trainer's circle, Leaf debated whether or not to keep Jolteon in the fight. Jolteon made the decision, though, when it launched its Thunderbolt at Blastoise. Unfortunately, for Jolteon, Blastoise launched a second Hydro Pump its way just as it launched its Thunderbolt. The two attacks collided in midair and the stream of water continued towards Jolteon, just as Jolteon's Thunderbolt rode the water stream back into Blastoise. Jolteon took the hit and was sent flying into the tree and through it to the other side, hitting the ground and rolling for a few feet before coming to a stop. Jolteon attempted to rise, but was unable to do so. On the other side of the field, Blastoise fell to Jolteon's Thunderbolt and was unable to rise to continue the fight, either. Cynthia then raised both flags, declaring, "Both Pokémon are unable to battle!" Ash was down to one Pokémon to Leaf's two.

Ash then tossed out a Poké Ball and cried, "Charizard, it's all up to you!"

The Poké Ball opened and an orange dragon emerged from the ball and appeared on the field, letting loose a massive roar. On the other side of the field, Leaf looked over to Tyranitar and said, "Tyranitar, go! End this fight!" Tyranitar gave a nod and then ran onto the battlefield. Despite the damage he had already taken in this battle, as well as his paralysis, he still felt as if he was ready to deal with Charizard.

Up in the audience, Ash's friends and mother nervously looked down at the stage as Ash called out Charizard, his final Pokémon, to fight against two of Leaf's Pokémon. May was particularly concerned since she knew that Charizard had an extreme type disadvantage over Tyranitar. "Come on, Ash," she said quietly. "You can do it."

"Against an opponent that has a quadruple type advantage over him?" Tracey countered, his tone showing how hopeless she viewed the battle as being. "The only way Charizard is winning this fight is if he has a powerful Fighting-type move and Tyranitar doesn't take cover. If he manages to take cover before Charizard hits him, it's going to be a quick battle in all the wrong ways."

"Perhaps," Lance replied knowingly. "But you can never tell what's going to happen. This isn't a turn-based game where the wrong type of move or strength and weakness immediately spells doom for one of the fighters. You can have all of the strengths on paper, but if you lose the fight, then what do all of those statistical numbers mean?"

Lance had a point. Still, Tracey and the others felt as if Ash was fighting an uphill battle. They continued to watch to see if Ash would, in fact, dethrone the Champion. They could only hope and pray that Ash had a trick up his sleeve, or Charizard knew a Fighting-type move to use against Tyranitar.

Back down on the battlefield, Ash was the first to strike as he called over to Charizard, pointing towards Tyranitar, who was already on the move, searching for cover, "Charizard, use Focus Blast on Tyranitar!"

Charizard complied and a light-blue ball of energy formed in front of his mouth. He then fired it towards Tyranitar, who was retreating behind a tree. Tyranitar managed to dive behind the tree just as the energy ball struck the ground close to his previous position. The force of the explosion assisted Tyranitar in his dive, but he was still able to take cover and taking avoid a direct hit. After he had taken cover, he peered out from behind the tree to search for Charizard, who was still ground bound. The good news was that Charizard still had to deal with that sandstorm; the bad news was that with him having Focus Blast in his arsenal, a single hit would be more than enough to take down Tyranitar. And with his paralysis, Leaf doubted that Tyranitar would be able to take down Charizard before the dragon scored a hit on him. Hopefully, though, he could weaken the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon enough so that Venusaur could finish him off. Still, a lucky hit with Stone Edge would be devastating to Charizard, and possibly even be enough to knock him out. Tyranitar prepared the attack as Charizard began to take to the air and search for the Rock/Dark-type, being careful to not remain standing or hovering in one spot and allow the Armor Pokémon to get a good bead on him. Still, despite his precautions, Tyranitar was able to hide among a thicket of bushes that surrounded a tree. As Charizard took to the air, Ash directed, "Search any of the bushes and trees for Tyranitar and prepare a Focus Blast. Once you find him, fire it off as quickly as possible. We don't want to get caught off guard."

Charizard nodded and heeded Ash's advice. He opened his mouth and a light blue ball of energy formed in front of it. From the bushes below, Tyranitar carefully targeted Charizard, despite the billowing sandstorm. A series of rings formed around him and several stones rose from the ground and began to orbit the large Pokémon. The rising of the stones and the bustling of the bushes seemed to get the dragon's attention and he suddenly turned to face the bushes as Tyranitar fired on him sooner than he had wanted. The volley of stones flew up from the bushes towards Charizard at a blistering pace, giving the dragon little time to dodge. Not wanting to lose his chance to take down Tyranitar quickly, he fired off his Focus Blast at the bushes, scoring a direct hit and blowing apart the tactile holographic bushes and taking out a large enough part of the tree that it creaked and fell over onto its side, and onto the same location of the bushes. The blast threw up a massive cloud of dust that encompassed Tyranitar. However, Tyranitar's aim had been good enough for him to score a glancing hit on Charizard, for a few of the stones of Stone Edge had managed to strike the Fire/Flying Pokémon on his wings. Charizard grunted with each hit, dipping lower and lower, but was still able to stay aloft. Tyranitar, however, had taken the worse of the exchange, for the blast cloud still covered the field and there was no sign of activity coming from the center of the cloud. Once the dust cloud had settled, an unconscious Tyranitar was seen below the fallen tree. Cynthia raised the red flag and proclaimed, "Tyranitar is unable to battle, Charizard wins!"

Up in the audience, all of Ash's friends gave a huge sigh of relief at Tyranitar's defeat. Their eyes lit up as they looked at the scoreboard and saw that the only Pokémon Leaf had left was Venusaur. "He's going to do it!" Dawn exclaimed. "Ash is going to win!"

"Don't get too carried away," Tracey cautioned. "As we have experienced before, type advantages aren't always the deciding factor in a battle. I traveled with Ash in the Orange Islands long enough to see that with my own eyes."

"Yeah, but this is different," Dawn told him. "Charizard is a Fire/Flying-type Pokémon and has a quadruple resistance to Venusaur's Grass-type attacks. Not only that, but Charizard also has powerful Fire-type moves that are strong against Venusaur."

"But Venusaur is also highly versatile," Lance countered. "And this is a forest field, which gives Venusaur a great deal of cover from which to launch his attacks. Don't forget the effect of status ailments. If Venusaur can use status ailments against Charizard, then this battle could very well end in Leaf's favor. In addition, Venusaur is also a Poison type and I know for a fact that Venusaur knows Poison-type attacks."

"But Charizard will only have to get one or two good hits to either weaken or take down Venusaur," Dawn countered, feeling that Ash still had a significant edge.

Lance smirked knowingly. "The problem will be getting those hits in on Venusaur before Venusaur manages to afflict Charizard with a variety of status ailments that will lead to his downfall. Remember, this is how she beat Tobias without losing a single Pokémon in her battle against him."

The others then focused back down on the battle below, uttering silent prayers for Ash and that he would pull through and be the first to defeat Leaf in a long time, possibly ever.

Down on the battlefield, Venusaur began the battle by releasing a cloud of Sleep Powder. A blue cloud of dust was released from Venusaur's plant and slowly floated towards Charizard. "Charizard, target Venusaur and blow away that Sleep Powder cloud with Fire Blast!" Ash called out to his most powerful Pokémon.

Charizard did as he was told and a blast of fire that took the shape of a human figure emerged from Charizard's mouth and grew until it was the size of a person. The blast of fire made contact with the cloud of powder and burned through it with ease, the dust instantly igniting and being reduced to ashes. The blast continued unhindered towards Venusaur, who hunkered down before jumping off the ground, and over the blast of fire that was sailing towards him. The Fire Blast attack sailed beneath Venusaur and across the battlefield, striking the wall on the other side of the field, instantly melting through the concrete barriers before dissipating. Venusaur landed on the ground, causing it to shake from his weight, and retaliated by launching a ball of poison from its plant. Charizard rocketed above the ball of sludge and managed to avoid it. As he flew, he was buffeted by the winds and the sand. Ash grimaced and knew that he had a decision to make. Using Sunny Day to clear the sandstorm would give Venusaur an opening with which to attack, but if he did not take that chance, then the sandstorm would continue to inflict damage to Charizard, and while Venusaur would take damage as well, Charizard had already taken some damage earlier in the battle due to the first sandstorm. Not only that, but while Charizard's Fire-type attacks would be powered up by the sun, Venusaur would also be able to quickly charge and fire a Solar Beam. The good news was that it would have a quadruple weakness to Charizard since Charizard was a Fire/Flying type Pokémon, both types being resistant to Grass-type attacks, so it would not be a very useful attack in this instance. In the end, Ash commanded, "Charizard, use Sunny Day now!"

Charizard gave a growl of affirmation and a ball of light appeared in his mouth. He launched the ball of light at the skylight and a second later, the sun was shining strongly through the skylight and illuminating the battlefield. Leaf, however, grinned, for she knew Ash's plan for the Sunny Day. However, she, too, had a plan of her own. Sure enough, the sandstorm dissipated and was replaced with the sunlight. She knew that while Sunny Day only temporarily brought about strong sunlight, that once it faded, the sandstorm would not return. It would just be normal weather. And this was her time to strike. "Venusaur, you know what to do," Leaf called to the Pokémon, which prompted a glance back at her, along with a nod.

Venusaur then began the fight by releasing a cloud of Sleep Powder towards Charizard. The powder cloud was launched at incredible velocity, far faster than either Charizard or Ash had expected, and it covered the dragon before he could counter with Flamethrower or Fire Blast. As soon as he was covered with the blue powder, he began to fall asleep. He struggled to keep his eyes open, but was unable to do so and landed on the ground, wobbling in an attempt to remain standing, and failing. But he would not go to sleep before making Venusaur pay. Without any direction from Ash, he launched second Fire Blast towards Venusaur, hoping that a direct hit would be enough for his powered up Fire Blast to take down Venusaur. The blast was unleashed from Charizard and took the form of a stick figure as it burned through the remainder of the cloud and barreled towards the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon. Venusaur, seeing the attack coming, quickly ran to evade the attack, far faster than Ash would have expected. Still, it was not enough to completely escape the Fire Blast and the attack hit Venusaur on his right side, singeing him. He recoiled from the blast, giving a cry of pain and surprise at the power of the attack. Still, one attack was not sufficient to take down Venusaur, despite being powered by the sun and having the type advantage over Venusaur. After hitting Venusaur with the Fire Blast, Charizard fell asleep and collapsed onto the ground. He was now helpless against Venusaur, who was eager to make him pay for that Fire Blast.

Up in the audience, Ash's friends all watched nervously as they listened to the commentary and watched the scoreboard and other video screens as they saw Charizard fall asleep. While they were concerned with the fact that Venusaur was able to put Charizard to sleep, they were more concerned with the speed that was demonstrated by Venusaur. Dawn was staring at Venusaur, his mouth agape. "How did Venusaur get to be that fast?" she blurted.

"I don't know," May echoed. "I have a Venusaur, myself, and Leaf's Venusaur moved a lot faster than mine. And I can't just chalk up the difference to training. I mean it looked like it was faster than Charizard, or even Pikachu."

"Leaf's Venusaur's ability is Chlorophyll," Lance answered. "In the sunlight, his speed doubles, both in the powering and launching of his attacks, as well as his movement speed and reflexes.

"But Venusaur can't have Chlorophyll as his ability," Tracey declared. "I'm a Pokémon Watcher and an assistant to Professor Oak and I have never once seen any member of the Bulbasaur family have that ability."

"It's rare," Professor Oak began, "but not unheard of for Pokémon to have a special ability that is not normally found on said Pokémon. For example, Charizard and its evolutionary line can rarely have Solar Power, which increases the power of their Fire-type attacks even more in the sun, albeit at the cost of health for each attack, and Blastoise and its evolutionary line also rarely can be seen with Rain Dish, which gradually restores health in rain."

"Wow, I didn't know that Pokémon could have such a wide variety of abilities," Dawn commented.

"The true extent of the abilities of Pokémon is only recently being revealed," Oak replied. "And I wouldn't be surprised if we find out that there is a lot more to learn about Pokémon than we can imagine."

"But what about the battle?" Delia asked. "Can Ash still win?"

"Can he? Yes," Professor Oak answered. "Charizard still has the type advantage over Venusaur. The question is whether or not he'll be able to exploit it before he sustains too much damage to continue the battle. The answer to that question is, I don't know."

With that ominous assessment of the battle, the group returned their attention to the battlefield below.

Venusaur began his assault on the sleeping Charizard by launching a Sludge Bomb from its plant towards the fallen Pokémon. The bomb scored a direct hit on Charizard and exploded in a cloud of brown smoke. Venusaur did not let up at all. Next, a seed formed at the top of Venusaur's plant and he fired it at the sleeping Charizard. Ash recognized this as Leech Seed and cried, "Charizard, wake up!"

Charizard did not budge as the seed connected with the sleeping Pokémon and vines immediately sprang up from the seed and surrounded Charizard, entangling him. Red sparks and streaks of energy surrounded the vines like electricity as they drained Charizard of his energy and automatically transferred it to Venusaur. Venusaur gave a rumble of satisfaction, along with Leaf's seeming grin, as he proceeded to launch another Sludge Bomb on Charizard. Again, Charizard took a direct hit from the attack, and also had more of his energy sapped by the Leech Seed.

Ash stood on his side of the battlefield, frozen. He did not know what he could do. A part of him wanted to go in there and take on Venusaur, himself, but another part of him thought that that was a foolish idea and would only make things worse for Charizard. He had noticed that ever since the time Mia had intervened in the battle between Tyranitar and Pikachu, that she had not directly taken part in the fighting against Ash's team. For someone who seemed to take great pride in the fact that she and her Pokémon fought as a team, rather than as master and servant, he thought that it was a little odd. Still, his other Pokémon had been different, especially in size and physical strength, compared to Pikachu. Looking across at her, he could tell that she was strongly considering entering the battle should things start to go south for Venusaur. But for now, she was content to stand by and watch, smiling as Venusaur pelted Charizard with Sludge Bomb after Sludge Bomb, hoping for this battle to end soon.

Venusaur launched another Sludge Bomb, which scored another direct hit on the sleeping Pokémon. Still, despite the damage, Charizard remained asleep. Ash gritted his teeth. Venusaur was smart. He knew that Grass-type attacks were next to useless against a Fire/Flying-type Pokémon like Charizard so he was sticking to using type neutral attacks like the Poison-type Sludge Bomb. Venusaur then launched yet another Sludge Bomb, which scored another direct hit on Charizard. Again, the Sludge Bomb exploded and covered the dragon in brown, poisonous smoke. It was then that Charizard sprang awake and went to retaliate.

"He's awake, watch out!" Leaf called to Venusaur as Charizard unleashed another Fire Blast towards Venusaur. The Grass/Poison-type Pokémon used his increased speed to dart out of the way of the incoming blast of fire and hide behind a tree as the blast of fire sailed wide. He retaliated with yet another Sludge Bomb. The attack, launched from the plant on Venusaur's back, arced towards Charizard much faster than it normally would have. Charizard tried to jump out of the way, but the increased velocity of the bomb was too much for Charizard, especially since he was still shaking off the grogginess of having been sound asleep. The bomb scored a hit on the lower part of his abdomen and exploded in another brown poison cloud. Unfortunately, Charizard breathed in the poison cloud and was poisoned by the attack. A purple blush appeared on Charizard's cheeks and he looked as if he were ready to vomit. Venusaur took this opportunity to fire off another Sludge Bomb at Charizard. The attack scored a direct hit on him and he was sent reeling backwards, the cumulative damage dealt by the Sludge Bombs, as well as the constant draining of energy by Leech Seed, as well as the replenishing of Venusaur by the Leech Seed, was taking a heavy toll on Charizard and he was beginning to breathe heavily.

After a few moments, the sunlight then died down and the lighting in the stadium returned to normal. Seeing this, both Ash and Leaf knew that this battle had just taken another turn. Looking at the reduced sunlight, she cried to Venusaur, "Watch out! The sunlight's down!"

Charizard took to the air and immediately searched for any sign of Venusaur in the trees and bushes. He saw the top of a plant with red flowers popping out over the canopy of a series of bushes and figured that he had his target. He then heard Leaf cry, "Venusaur, use Solar Beam now! We have to stall Charizard long enough for the poison and Leech Seed to drain him dry!"

Not waiting to see if a bulge of energy was going to appear, or for any orders from Ash, the dragon unleashed his Fire Blast upon the red petals jutting out from the top of the canopy of bushes. Ash had no problem with this, though, for he felt that Charizard had a better view of the battlefield than he did. The blast of fire hit the bushes and instantly incinerated them, fire spreading out from the center of the explosion of the Fire Blast. Just as Charizard had expected, the bushes were burned away and Venusaur was revealed, having sustained a direct hit from the Fire Blast. Venusaur staggered out of the bushes a bit as a golden bulb of energy was now forming on the petals and the top of the plant on Venusaur's back. Charizard then dipped a bit, having difficulty staying aloft. Ash then called out to Charizard, "Charizard, land so you won't expend more energy than you need to."

Charizard saw the wisdom in Ash's advice and descended from the air, landing on top of a tree on Ash's side of the battlefield, crouching in the bushes so he could take cover from Venusaur's retaliatory attacks. Ash then directed, "Charizard, use Fire Blast on Venusaur!"

Just as Ash had given the order, Leaf told Venusaur, "Venusaur, stand firm and fire your Solar Beam! We don't have to hold back the blast of fire indefinitely; just long enough for the Leech Seed and poison to take him down."

Venusaur complied and the plant on his back gave a yellowish-white glow. Venusaur then gave a cry as he fired a yellow beam of energy from his plant straight towards Charizard, who at the same instant, unleashed a Fire Blast down towards Venusaur. The attacks collided in midair and the Fire Blast was stopped for a second by the Solar Beam, but the Solar Beam quickly gave way to the fire attack, which had a significant type advantage over it. Charizard focused on Venusaur and keeping his Fire Blast on target, but he was also fighting the poison and the Leech Seed that were afflicting him as well. He struggled to remain on the tree and quickly jumped down to the ground. Venusaur saw Charizard's movement and swept his Solar Beam downward to track the Pokémon. Charizard's Fire Blast, however, quickly managed to close the distance and stayed on target with Venusaur, preventing the beam from being able to hit Charizard. Venusaur knew that he now had to focus on keeping that Fire Blast from hitting him and knocking him out before Charizard fainted. For a few seconds, he managed to hold out and keep the Fire Blast from closing in on him, but eventually, he simply could not keep it up. The Solar Beam was overpowered by Charizard's Fire Blast and the blast of fire scored a direct hit on Venusaur just as Charizard fell to the ground, collapsing due to the drain by Leech Seed and poison. "Charizard, no!" Ash cried as he saw Charizard fall to the ground, unconscious.

"Venusaur!" Leaf cried in echo as the blast of flame scored a direct hit on Venusaur and exploded, sending up a massive cloud of dust. The overpressure from the blast send a gust of wind towards both Trainers. Their hair billowed in the wind as they shielded their eyes and struggled to see through the blast cloud and ascertain whether or not Venusaur had somehow managed to avoid fainting from the attack.

The audience, too, watched with baited breath as the stadium was buffeted by the winds and the cloud was slow to clear. However, there had been no signs of movement from inside the cloud, and Cynthia was gripping both flags tightly. All of Ash's friends and his mother watched the scene intently, as did the shadowy figure on the other side of the bleachers. Each of his friends prayed that Charizard's Fire Blast had managed to take down Venusaur, figuring that the best Ash could hope for was a tie.

Down on the battlefield, the cloud of dust slowly cleared. Once it cleared, Venusaur was seen in the center of burnt out crater. He was perfectly still, with the exception of his chest, which rose and fell with each breath. He was sprawled out on the floor with his eyes closed. He was in no condition to fight. Cynthia then raised both flags and declared, "Both Pokémon are unable to battle. The battle ends in a tie!"

Cheers erupted from the audience as the declaration was made. Both Charizard and Venusaur were returned to their Poké Balls, with Venusaur being sent out once more to rejoin the rest of Leaf's Team. Ash then let out a huge sigh of relief. However, Cynthia was not finished, and Ash could see Leaf grinning and staring right at him. "However, since Old Rules, Section One was invoked at the beginning of this battle, a tiebreaker match shall be fought. This tiebreaker match shall be between the two Trainers directly. The rules for this match are simple. You are the loser if you give up, land outside of the ring, stay down, either voluntarily or are forced, for ten counts, lose consciousness, or if you kill your opponent. You may hit your opponent anywhere on the body, except for the groin, eyes, and throat. Any strike or hold to the throat, especially the trachea, is forbidden and can result in immediate disqualification. Do you understand?"

"Yes," both Ash and Leaf responded in unison.

"Then the match shall commence once the final battlefield is chosen."

A wheel appeared on the scoreboard above the battlefield and once more, pizza slices appeared, detailing the various fields that could be used for the upcoming battle. The spinner spun around for several seconds until it eventually began to slow down. A couple seconds later, it came to a stop on the water/ice field symbol. Once the battlefield was chosen, the trees, some of which were burning, and was replaced with a water field. Leaf was less than pleased with this battlefield selection. Ash, however, began to smile, realizing that he may have had an edge in this battle. Cynthia then called out once more, "Will the two combatants come to the center of the battlefield."

Both Ash and Leaf then made their way out to the center of the battlefield. A holographic bridge extended from the trainer area to the center platform, which had two circles on either side. Each Trainer crossed their bridge and made their way to the center platform. As he crossed the platform, he stared intently at Leaf, who was staring back at him. As he watched her walk, he could not help but notice something familiar about her: the way she walked, even the way she talked and how she viewed her Pokémon. It was strange, but he could have sworn that he knew her from somewhere. His thoughts soon turned to the upcoming fight. He looked back at Pikachu, who had since regained consciousness but was in no position to help him in the fight. "Pika pika!" Pikachu cried in support, pumping his fists into the air. Ash was less optimistic. While he had some basic self-defense martial arts training, he was nowhere close to being a black belt; and he had the feeling that Mia, there was that name again, _was_ a black belt at least. And there was always the issue of what his parents had taught him about hitting girls, as in never to do so under any circumstances unless it was a life-or-death situation. _His parents_? he wondered to himself. For a second, he had a much different feeling enter his heart regarding his father, than he had initially known. Since this battle was not a life-or-death fight, he knew that he would have a disadvantage if he was going to hold true to these ideals, and he knew that Mia knew it and was relishing the opportunity to teach him to not condescend her, if her almost evil grin did not tell him everything he needed to know already.

Up in the audience, Delia looked on with concern. She did not like this invocation of the old rules. From what she had known, normally, a tiebreaker match would have been done by having each trainer call up one more Pokémon and have that be the tiebreaker. Instead, with Old Rules, the tiebreaker was the two trainers fighting it out for the championship. Even with the restrictions on the rules, she knew that a fight like this could get rough. Even worse was the fact that her son was going up against a girl of his age. Normally, that would be enough to give him the edge, but she felt as if the way Ash had been raised could allow Leaf to take advantage of his hesitation to fight a girl. The others, however, did not share Delia's worry.

"So it's a physical fight to the finish," Dawn commented nonchalantly. "Unless this Leaf is a super martial artist, Ash should have this in the bag."

"On paper, you're probably right," Professor Oak responded. "However, we don't know what might be going through his mind. One's mental state is a key factor in a fight; and mind games can often turn a battle. If he holds back against her due to chivalry, she could make him pay for it."

"I don't think Ash'll have that problem," May interjected. "Remember what Leaf did to Pikachu. He could use that as ammunition against her."

"Let's hope so," Professor Oak responded.

Lance looked down at the field, seeing Leaf's grin. He knew that she felt confident going into this battle. He did not say anything, but he had a feeling that Ash was going to be fighting an uphill battle against Leaf.

The two combatants reached the center platform and stood in the circles designated for each fighter. There was a line in the middle of the platform that separated each half of the platform. Ash and Leaf looked each other in the eye and gave a respectful bow. Once the bow was finished, a menacing scowl crossed Leaf's face and she growled, "Don't you _dare_ hold back against me because I'm a girl, Ash Ketchum."

The ferocity of her look caused Ash to tremble as he stared at her. She was serious about this fight. But there was something else in her glare. He wondered if she was viewing this as training for him, or if she truly intended to do everything in her power to beat him. Of course, the two were not mutually exclusive. Seeing that the two combatants were ready, Cynthia raised her right hand and cried, "And begin!" bringing her hand down in a chopping motion.

Leaf began the fight by assuming a fighter's stance and waiting for Ash to make the first move. Ash continued to look at Leaf in the eyes and refused to initiate the battle, or even assume a fighter's stance. This did not amuse Leaf. "What are you waiting for, Ash? Don't you want to become the Pokémon League Champion?"

"Yeah," Ash retorted, though there was a note of hesitation in his voice.

"Then why don't you attack?"

Ash did not want to answer the question, for he did not want to appear to be condescending towards her. However, he also did not want to start the fight with her. His father had always taught him to never to start a fight, but always finish one. He had also drilled it into Ash's head that he should never hit a girl. While Ash did not want to disrespect Leaf, he also did not want to simply bully his way to victory. This was made all that much more complicated by having his mother and friends watching in the stands, as well as this fight being on national, if not world, television.

Leaf gave an annoyed grunt when she saw that Ash would not start the fight and decided to make him pay for his error when she rushed him and drove her fist into his abdomen. Air was forcibly exhaled from his lungs as the punch made contact and he staggered backwards from the force of the strike. Before he could recover, he was kicked in the sternum and sent staggering backwards some more. Before he could stumble into the water, though, Leaf reached out and grabbed his arm with her left hand. She pulled him back towards her, keeping him from inching closer to the water. As she pulled him in, she drew back her right hand and thrust it forward towards his head. This time, Ash was able to raise his hand and deflect the blow. He got a sense of sarcastic relief from the girl, almost being able to make out her thought, _At least he was able to block that telegraphed open palm strike_.

Ash then assumed a fighter's stance and prepared for Leaf's next assault, still being careful to not go on the offensive. Leaf then launched a flurry of punches, open palm strikes, and kicks towards Ash. He managed to dodge or parry the kicks and most of the punches and open palm strikes, but a few were able to land on his abdomen. He threw a few ineffectual attacks her way in defense and to give himself some space so he could direct her closer to the water. Leaf was easily able to block or parry his attacks, and had even surprised him by pulling him in towards one of her side kicks, which connected with his chest and sent him flying a few feet in the air. He landed on his back and slid a couple feet before coming to a halt. Leaf then stood over him ominously, glaring down at him.

Up in the stands, Ash's friends watched the one-sided slaughter in shock as Leaf had had her way throughout the entire fight. It was obvious that she was a highly skilled martial artist, but that was not the real issue. It was equally obvious that Ash was having trouble bringing himself to initiate an attack of any kind on the girl. May's eyes went wide as she watched the fight. "What are you doing, Ash?" she yelled exasperatedly. "Fight back! Leaf's kicking the stuffing out of you and you can't even muster the will to defend yourself."

Both Tracey and Dawn echoed May's sentiments, though not as loudly. Still, they were quite concerned about Ash's unwillingness to take the fight to Leaf when she presented herself with an opening. Lance seemed to have the same concern, even though he could see that the openings that Leaf was giving Ash were quite obvious. Still, he and the others who knew anything about martial arts also knew that they were dangerous openings that a boy would generally be able to take advantage of against a girl and that most girls would not be able to recover from due to males generally being physically stronger than females in physical fights. Still, even if Ash were more willing to take the fight to Leaf, he did not know whether or not Ash would win since Leaf was a first-degree black belt in karate, and was studying a variety of other martial arts as well. Still, Ash did have one advantage. He was no weakling and was in shape, physically. He should at the very least be on a par with Leaf in strength, and was more than likely stronger than her. The question was whether his strength would be enough to overcome her obvious advantage in skill, along with her willingness to fight. Delia could only watch on, almost in horror at the beating that her son was taking. She also felt a pang of regret and sadness at seeing this fight, regardless of its eventual outcome, for reasons that she could not put words to. She could barely watch as the fight continued, hoping that it would end soon.

Back on the battlefield, Ash slowly rose, still feeling the effects of the kick that had been delivered to his chest. As he rose, he saw that Leaf was making no effort to keep him down; at least not yet. Once he rose, he assumed a fighting stance once more but did not launch an attack. This caused her to grimace and give a growl. She charged him once more and rammed her shoulder into his ribcage. The attack sent Ash flying, though it was not nearly as hard as it could have been. He staggered backwards and fell close to the water. Leaf, seeing that she was getting close to the water, did not continue her assault, not wanting to give up her primary edge. She then studied him, trying to ascertain whether or not he was simply not fighting, or whether this was all a cunning strategy to lure the more highly skilled fighter to the water and get her in so that her advantage in fighting skill would be neutralized. Ash looked at the water but did not make any move indicating that he was trying to draw her close to the water. She then decided to try a new tactic. "So, after all this talk, all this action, all this time spent on your Pokémon journey, you're within arm's reach of fulfilling your greatest dream and you're going to let it all slip away," she said almost mockingly.

Ash gritted his teeth and retorted, "It's not over yet," as he rose, only to be thrust back down to the ground with a palm strike to his chest. She then stood over him and lifted her right leg. She then brought her foot down on his chest, pinning him to the floor. He struggled against her weight, but he was unable to move her. She stared down at him almost sadistically and told him, "It's over now, Ash. You only have ten seconds before I'm declared the winner."

It was then that Ash grabbed her foot with both of his hands and pulled. Leaf lost her balance and was forced off of Ash, allowing him to roll away and get back up. She smiled as she staggered backwards a few steps, regained her footing, and focused back on Ash. Standing up once more, Ash assumed a fighter's stance, but did not attack. "What are you doing?" she demanded. "Why don't you fight? Is it because I'm a girl?"

Ash nodded slowly. "That's part of it, but not all of it; nor is it the main reason."

"Then what's holding you back?"

"You're my sister," Ash responded, looking down at the ground. "And I can't bring myself to fight you," he declared. "Not like this. And it's not as if you're using your full power against me, either," he noted.

Leaf smirked. "You know that if this was a real fight to the death, that I could, and would, have killed you ten times over already, even if the rules about not striking you in the throat or using any chokeholds were still in place."

"But this is _not_ a fight to the death," Ash countered. "This is merely a sparring match that allows for fuller contact than standard sparring matches. And you're family."

Leaf sighed. "Perhaps," she said. "But what would you do if this _was_ a fight to the death? I know what Father taught you. And he's right. But don't be fooled. Girls and women are just as capable of being evil as boys and men. We can be just as cruel, just as sadistic, and just as evil as any male villain that you've faced. You should know that. You've faced evil women before."

Ash saw her point. He had fought a Pokémon poacher known as Hunter J several times in the Sinnoh Region, but nothing had been heard from her for over a year and a half. It had been reported that she had been killed during the captures of Uxie and Mesprit. J had been pure evil, far more so than almost any other villain that he had encountered. Only Grings Kodai, the Iron Masked Marauder, and possibly Giovanni of Team Rocket and Cyrus of Team Galactic were just as evil or more so. But Leaf was not Hunter J. She was the exact opposite, if likely a little harsh in her treatment towards those who were evil. "Don't think for a second that an evil woman servant, or boss, would not take advantage of any hesitation that you might have to fight her if that is her best chance to beat you," Leaf continued. "Those that are evil won't play by your rules. They'll use your moral codes against you, if they can. They'll take advantage of your compassion and mercy."

"Are you trying to make it so that I become evil, or a dark antihero?" Ash blurted in question.

Leaf shook her head. "No," she answered. "I'm just alerting you to the fact that these types of things will happen. View my fight with you as a learning experience. Also, remember how I helped Tyranitar defeat Pikachu. Pikachu knew that I was your sister and hesitated. I used that to my advantage to pin him with my rubber gloves." Her expression then softened as she added, "Your chivalry towards girls and women is a _good_ thing, Ash, but don't take it too far when dealing with those that are truly evil. Remember the difference between being a peacemaker, and a pacifist. A peacemaker is still willing to fight against evil if fighting is the only option; and sometimes it is. A true pacifist will never fight under any circumstances, even against true evil, even if it is to save the lives of other innocents. They would sacrifice the lives of their own friends and family members in order to uphold those ideals. I know that you aren't a pacifist."

Ash then gave a smile. "Thanks," he told her. "But this isn't a life-or-death fight. And you're no Hunter J."

Leaf then grimaced. She could not tell whether or not he would fight her seriously. To try to ascertain whether or not he would be willing to attack, she charged towards him and drew back her fist and went to throw a quick punch to his head. It was an obviously telegraphed attack and would be easy to block, and with Ash's strength he would be able to trap her arm and leave her wide open to attack. Instead of trying to block the attack or gain leverage on her, he merely swayed out of the way of her attack. She over extended herself and she was slow to turn around and perform a side kick to his chest, which was blocked. Still, despite the openings that she was leaving him, Ash refused to go on the offensive, or take advantage of her "mistakes".

Seeing that he still was not going to attack, she asked him harshly, "How badly do you want to win this? How much do you want to be the Champion?"

"I want it more than you can imagine, Mia," Ash retorted harshly, using her real name.

"Then act like it and _FIGHT_!" she cried as she charged and thrust an open palm strike towards his head. Ash managed to duck underneath her blow and he had a great opening to throw a punch to her ribcage, but he did not take advantage of it, still not wanting to hit her, despite the fact that he knew that if she lost patience with him, that she could maul him in a fight. Mia ruthlessly responded by ducking down and performing a leg sweep. Ash's legs were swept out from underneath him and he fell to the ground with a thud. Mia then jumped on him, using her own weight, particularly her knees and left hand to pin Ash to the ground while she drew back her right hand for another strike to his head. As she thrust her palm forward, Ash was able to grab her hand and push it to the side. Ash then grinned. Mia had made a mistake, and she realized it as her eyes went wide with shock, and a little bit of concern. With his free hand, he was able to grab Mia's left hand and pull it off of him. Using his greater strength, he was able to throw her to the side and quickly roll on top of her, wrestling her to the ground and using his greater weight to pin her in place. "That's better," she said with a satisfied smirk, looking straight into his eyes. "But pinning me to the ground won't win you the fight."

Ash gave a confident smile in response. "It will if I can keep you pinned for ten seconds," he replied. Cynthia quickly came over to the group and began to count, "One, two, three," Mia struggled against Ash's superior weight, doing her best to try to gain leverage on him to try to force him off of her. He responded by grabbing her shoulders and pinning them to the ground, and using the rest of his body to keep her pinned to the ground. "…four, five, six," Cynthia's count continued. As long as Mia could not move her arms and the rest of her body was restrained, she was counted as being down for the purposes of this fight. She knew that if Ash were a true enemy, that he could do whatever he wanted to her right now. She was completely at his mercy, though that did not mean that she would not fight. She would fight to the end, but things were not looking good for her right now. Still, he was not launching any attacks on her while she was down. He was content to merely pin her to the ground using his own weight until Cynthia counted to ten.

Mia continued to struggle against Ash as she tried to wear him out, since he had taken a pounding from her in the fight. Her struggles were in vain, though, as nothing she did could budge him. "How much do I want this?" Ash asked Mia in a confident voice. "This much," he said in direct answer to his question. He then heard Cynthia count, "…seven, eight, nine, _ten_!"

The moment that she cried "ten", she slapped the mat much like a wrestling referee would. "This battle is over!" she declared. "Ash Ketchum is the winner, and the new World Pokémon League Champion!"

The moment the battle was declared over, Ash got off of Mia, and knelt next to her. He extended her hand towards her and smiled kindly. Mia returned his smile and took his hand. He pulled her up and they both faced each other and bowed. Once they had bowed the audience erupted in cheers and celebration. Ash scanned the audience and saw all of his friends and his mother standing and cheering. He heard Dawn and May exclaim, "You did it!"

"Way to go, honey!" he heard his mother echo.

He then heard a masculine voice come from the other end of the stadium exclaim, "It is yours now, Ash."

Ash looked up into the audience, searching for the source of the voice, for he knew that he had heard the voice before. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a man with black hair, wearing a red jacket duck behind some of the audience in the stands. For a second, he thought that it was his father, but that could not be. His father had disappeared years ago without a trace. His mother had always thought, and said, that his father abandoned them, but he was no longer so sure, especially since meeting his sister, Mia, someone who he had no idea even existed until his battle with her.

He continued to scan the audience for any sign of where the man might reappear, but he could not find him. He did not notice when Cynthia came up, offering him a large, golden trophy, and saying, "Congratulations, Ash. You are the new World Pokémon League Champion, and the only one to have ever defeated Leaf."

He hesitated before accepting the trophy. He did not feel as if he had managed to defeat her. After all, the Pokémon battle was a tie, with the tie not being resolved by a seventh Pokémon battle, but a battle between the Trainers, one where neither combatant gave their all, each for a different set of reasons. It took Mia's kind insistence, "Take the trophy, Ash. You earned it," to get him to accept the trophy. He looked back at her and gave an almost regretful smile. After accepting the trophy, he thanked Cynthia and then called back to Mia, "We'll have to do this again sometime and see who the real winner would have been. Though next time, let's do it without the fight at the end."

Mia gave him a smile before turning away and returning each of her Pokémon to their Poké Balls and leaving the stadium. She wanted Ash to bask in the glow of his victory as his friends and family came down to celebrate with him. She gave one last glance as she saw her mother and Ash's friends meet him, giving a smile as she saw the girls that were talking with him. She then turned to get her Pokémon friends to the Pokémon Center. Even though Ash was the Champion, for the moment, she still had other duties that needed attending to. She could feel Ash watching as she left and knew that they would be meeting again soon.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, two people, one a middle-aged man with black hair and green eyes and wearing eye glasses, the other, a young woman who looked to barely be in her twenties, if that, with medium length blond hair curled into two wavy tails, one on each side of her face, and blue eyes, walked along a road, gazing at the surroundings as if in search for a particular building. The man wore a white lab coat over a gray shirt and black pants. The young woman wore a standard female Team Rocket uniform, a black short-sleeved shirt with a red R on the front, long, white gloves that covered all portions of her arms that were exposed by the shirt, a white miniskirt with a pink stripe that went around the whole skirt, and long, white stockings that covered most of the exposed parts of her legs, and white shoes. Despite the young woman's youth, she was a high-ranking member of Team Rocket, at least on the same level as the middle-aged scientist that was working with her. She also wore a black jacket over her Team Rocket uniform to hide her allegiance to the criminal organization. Unlike most missions she had been assigned, for this one, she had six Poké Balls clipped to her belt, just in case they ran into trouble, in addition to her electrified black tulip, and a lightning gun. They did not expect to, though, for Team Plasma had disbanded over a year ago, Ghetsis now only having the Shadow Triad for minions; and the Rocket agents that had accompanied the two of them to this base were supposed to deal with any trouble that should arise. If all went well, then they would be able to claim their objective without being detected.

The man drew out a large paper and examined it. After studying it, he looked over at the young woman and said, "The experiment that Team Plasma was working on is down the next corridor. If there's any resistance, we'll face it here. Tell the others to get ready to back us up, just incase."

"Keep your voice down, Gideon," the young woman whispered harshly. "We don't need the sound of our voices to alert them to our presence."

Gideon nodded as they continued on their way down the street. They came around the bend and saw that there was no sign of resistance outside the lab. Seeing that they were in the clear, they proceeded to make their way towards the lab.

Inside the building, a single scientist stood by a coffin-like chamber that was large enough to hold a human inside. The walls of the room were painted gray and there were numerous computers in the room with screens lining the walls. Looking over his notes, he smiled with satisfaction. "Excellent," he cooed. "Everything's going perfectly. I'll show them. I'll show them all what I am capable of. Genesect is the ultimate Pokémon. It has no equal!"

"Then I'm certain that we'll be able to make great use of Genesect," came the voice of the young woman standing in the doorway. She and Gideon were standing in the doorway, the young woman grinning sadistically towards the scientist standing near the chamber. The Rockets' appearance took the scientist off guard, and he nearly jumped at the sound of the woman's voice.

"What the…? Who are you?" the scientist stammered.

"I'm Domino," the young woman answered with a smirk. "And we're very interested in your work. Give us the Pokémon you're working on and we'll give you no trouble."

"I won't just hand over my work to just anyone. What are you willing to give me for it?"

"Your life," Domino answered as she drew out her lightning gun, a gray science fiction-like gun with two barrels that had an electrical charge flashing between them, and her black 'tulip' and held them on him, her sadistic grin letting him know that she was very willing to use deadly force to get what she wanted.

The scientist's eyes went wide at the sight of the gun and tulip and exclaimed, "You're Team Rocket! I thought they were gone!"

"Not yet," Domino retorted. "Now be smart and hand over your research to someone who will actually put it to good use."

"Not without some kind of…ahhh!" He never got to finish his ultimatum, for Domino pulled the trigger on her lightning gun and shot him in the chest. The lightning stream struck him and electricity arced across as his body. The scientist fell to the floor, electricity still sparking all across his body and Domino directed Gideon, "Find all of the research pertaining to Genesect and take it with us. We'll need it if we're gonna control this Pokémon."

"Right," the scientist replied as he quickly went about scouring the lab for any research pertaining to Genesect and any other Pokémon experiments that might have been conducted in the lab. He took out several memory sticks and placed them in several data ports in the various computers and began to download the data. He glanced over at the fallen former Team Plasma scientist that Domino had shot, making sure that he was still out since he was uncertain whether Domino had killed him or merely stunned him. Inwardly, he had hoped that the scientist was merely stunned, for if they were caught, he did not want to be tried for murder or as an accessory.

Domino, however, looked as if she could not have cared less about the scientist's fate. She merely looked over at Gideon and blurted, "How long is this gonna take? We're on a tight schedule, here."

"Not long," Gideon answered. "I'm finishing the data download now." A few more seconds passed as he checked each screen and saw that the data download was complete. After the download was complete, he disconnected the memory drives and placed them in his coat's pocket. He then turned to Domino and informed her, "It's done. Let's get out of here."

"One more thing," she said in response. She took out one of her Poké Balls and opened it. A humanoid Pokémon with golden skin, pointed ears, wearing brown leather-like clothing emerged, crying, "Alakazam!"

"Alakazam, take the scientist lying on the floor and deposit him a few hundred meters away. Also, make it look like he was a victim of a mugging."

"Kazam," the Pokémon replied.

Gideon then took her aside and asked, "Do you really think the police would go for it? The Unova Region isn't exactly a high crime region."

"It might not be high crime, but crime is not unheard of," Domino replied. "If we make it look like a mugging a ways away from here, they won't come and investigate a lab that has already been shut down."

The duo then waited as Alakazam went followed the command of his master and promptly disappeared, along with the body of the scientist. A few seconds later, Alakazam reappeared. The image of the successful completion of his command was relayed to Domino and she took out her Poké Ball, telling her Pokémon, "Good job." She then went over to the chamber that housed either Genesect, or the genetic material that would be used to resurrect the Pokémon. Both she and Gideon placed their hands on the chamber and told Alakazam, "Take us back to headquarters."

"Kazam," the Pokémon replied, nodding. Gideon, Domino, Alakazam, and the chamber then vanished from the lab, leaving no evidence of Team Rocket's presence.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Ash watched as Mia left the stadium and was about to go over to follow her when his mother and his friends, as well as Lance, all came up from behind, his mother giving him a fierce hug. "You did it, honey!" she exclaimed. "You're now the Champion, just like your father when he went on his journey." Just then, Delia suddenly stopped and a confused look crossed her face. What had she said? Ash's father had abandoned them when he was young. He was no one to emulate. At least, that's what she thought she remembered. Suddenly, she was not so sure anymore. Ash did not want to say anything, but he was beginning to grow concerned. "What is it?" he asked.

She looked at her son and her expression returned to normal. "Don't worry, honey, it's nothing. You're a far better young man, and Champion; that's all. I'm so proud of you!" She then hugged him again.

Ash blushed but then returned his mother's hug. Soon, Ash's friends arrived, with May exclaiming, "I can't believe it! You won!"

Dawn also beamed and told him, "You had us worried there for a bit, but you actually did it."

"Congratulations on your win, Ash," Tracey said.

"It was even tougher than my battle against Drake," Ash replied, thinking back on his battle against the leader of the Orange Crew.

"Don't forget, Ash, that we're all holding a celebration at the new Indigo Grill and Buffet for your thirteenth birthday," Professor Oak reminded him. "Several friends of mine, who are incredible chefs, are going to be cooking an incredible meal for the whole party."

"If you have any last minute invitations that you wish to give, now's the time," Lance told him. "The buffet will be ready not too long from now."

"Thanks, everyone," Ash said in reply. "But before I join you, I want to take Pikachu and the others to the Pokémon Center and have them looked at. If it's alright with you, can we hold off on the celebration until they're ready?"

"Sure thing sweetie," Delia answered for everyone. May and Dawn suppressed groans of hunger, but they could understand why Ash wanted to wait since it was not just a birthday party for him, but a celebration of his victory over the World Pokémon League Champion. His Pokémon were just as important in that win as Ash was, and likely even more so. Ash then gave one more smile and thanked everyone before he turned towards the exit and departed. As he left, he looked up in the stands, towards the crowd, who had been thinned out greatly, with most of the others already having filed out of the stadium, and searched for that man who had hidden in the shadows. He managed to find what he thought was the man, but it turned out to merely be another spectator. He also saw another spectator that was fully covered with a black cloak, but he could see the man's eyes, which looked to be yellow in color. He also thought he managed to catch some traces of orange hair, likely from a beard or something. The spectator was tall and even though his face was obscured, he looked to be menacing. He soon noticed that the spectator was studying him intently. After a few seconds, the spectator turned away and followed the others out of the stadium. Ash then proceeded to the exit, hurrying as he carried Pikachu in his arms so that the mouse would not have to walk on his own.

Ash exited the main stadium and hurried over to the Pokémon Center. It was still the middle of the day and there were a large number of people at the vendors, buying Pokémon merchandise and other things. A few people tried to get Ash to have his picture taken with them but he quickly fled towards the Pokémon Center, saying that he had to have his Pokémon looked at. While that was true, he also wanted to be able to sit somewhere and think. So many things were going through his mind at the moment that he needed to be alone for a bit so he could make sense of it all. He had not even managed to speak all that coherently to his mother or the rest of his friends, many of who were like family to him. He carried Pikachu in his arms as he made his way to the center, looking down at Pikachu to make sure that he had not sustained any severe injuries since Pikachu had taken the worst of the hits during the battle. The electric mouse smiled weakly, affirming that he was not in any real danger.

It did not take Ash long to arrive at the Pokémon Center and, walking through the sliding door, he quickly made his way towards the front desk. A woman with pink hair tied into two tails that wrapped around to form "0's", blue eyes, and wearing a pink nurse's uniform with a white apron was standing at the desk along with a pink egg-shaped Pokémon known as Chansey. He instantly recognized the nurse as one of the many Nurse Joys that had taken the role of Pokémon nurses throughout all of the regions that he had visited. Out of the corner of his eye, he also found two technicians working on various things behind the desk, one male, the other, female. They were dressed in brown pants and gray shirts and had hats on, with the rims obscuring their faces so it was difficult to identify them. The man had short, lavender hair, most of which was hidden by the cap that he wore, and green eyes. The female technician had magenta hair, though the cap that she wore made it so Ash could not tell that whether or not her hair was short or long. She also had blue eyes. Both of the technicians were wearing glasses. The moment Ash entered, they took notice of him and stopped what they were doing, huddling close together and whispering something before retreating to the back room, likely to check up on the machines in the back. He noticed them retreat but did not think too much of it at the time. He approached Nurse Joy at the desk and she greeted him, saying, "Welcome. How may I help you?"

"I need you to look after my Pokémon. They just had a difficult battle and need some rest and care," Ash answered.

"I saw the battle," Nurse Joy responded, smiling. "Congratulations on your win, by the way. I'll take care of your Pokémon immediately. You can wait at one of the tables while I look over your Pokémon."

"Thanks, Nurse Joy," Ash said as he placed his five Poké Balls into the slots on a metallic tray. She was preparing to take the tray when her eyes caught sight of another person. As if sensing the arrival of another, Ash turned to his left and found Mia standing at the counter, placing six Poké Balls on the counter.

"And how may I help you, Leaf?" the nurse asked.

"Could you take a look at these Pokémon?" Mia requested. "They were in a difficult battle and at the very least need some rest."

"Sure," Joy said, nodding. "I'll take them back along with yours, too, Ash," she added as Chansey brought out another tray for Mia's Poké Balls. Once her Poké Balls were placed on the tray, Joy and Chansey took them to the back room to check up on them, leaving Ash and Mia alone.

Ash quickly scanned the Pokémon Center and found that there was no one else inside. He then focused back on Mia, who went over to a wall near a table and leaned against it, placing one of her feet behind the other and crossing her arms in a typical pose often taken by teenagers who were impatiently waiting for something. The difference with Mia, though, was that Ash got the impression that she was in no hurry whatsoever and that she was simply relaxing. He slowly went over to the table close to her and waited. Her gaze followed him as he walked and he returned it as he took his seat at the table. After a few awkward moments, Ash eventually offered, "You're welcome to sit here while we wait for our Pokémon."

"Friends," Mia said quickly, seemingly as if she were adding to Ash's statement.

Ash merely raised his eyebrows. "Huh?"

"Our Pokémon _friends_," the girl clarified. "The Pokémon aren't ours. They belong to themselves, just as we do."

Ash almost gave a sarcastic chuckle. "You sound like a member of Team Plasma."

"I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't considered joining them on more than one occasion once I heard of their existence," Mia admitted. "I almost did."

"What stopped you?"

"They were in the Unova Region of America, for starters," she answered. "The other reason was because there was something about the rest of the organization that wasn't quite right. N was fine, if a little naïve. The real issue was…"

"Ghetsis," Ash finished for her.

Mia nodded. "He was the true mastermind, and was merely using Team Plasma to separate Pokémon from humans so that he would be the only one with Pokémon, giving him an advantage for when he tried to take over the region. Despite the fact that he could only have a limited number of Pokémon on hand at any given time, he could still do an awful lot of damage to the region should he have attempted to conquer it. Don't let the 'tame' Pokémon battles we participate in fool you; a Pokémon truly unleashed is a frightening force to face, even if you have guns and other weapons at your disposal, especially if you're dealing with Legendaries. You should know that firsthand."

Ash nodded in agreement. "I do."

The two of them then remained silent as they looked over at the counter, waiting for the checkups and the healing of their Pokémon to be complete. Ash lost track of the time as he eventually looked over at her and heard in his mind, _So, are you going to ask_?

The sudden question appearing in his mind caught him off guard. He could hear the question echo throughout his mind in Mia's voice, but it was something that he was not accustomed to. It was something that was usually reserved for telepaths and psychics like Mewtwo. Though if he and Mia were twins, it could explain her ability to talk to him telepathically, for Ash had encountered twins in the form of Gym Leaders Tate and Liza of Mossdeep Gym in Mossdeep City in the Hoenn Region and it seemed as if they could communicate with each other telepathically. Eventually, Ash responded vocally, "Ask what?"

_Ask whether or not we're siblings…specifically twins_, she replied.

"Well, are we?"

Mia nodded. "If you don't believe me, you can take a DNA test. There's a scanner over on that wall," she told him, pointing to a console at the wall at the far end of the center.

"That won't be needed," Ash told her. He focused on her again and found certain memories coming to mind that he had never known before. A memory of a beach came to mind. He was six years old at the time. He remembered it being close to dusk and he was chasing Mia around a large sandcastle that they had spent the entire day building. He had been gaining on her when suddenly, he was swept up by a strong man that was six feet tall, had black hair and kind, blue, eyes. The man was wearing a dark blue bathing suit and a white t-shirt. He was young, in his mid twenties at the oldest. And that was pushing it. His smile was kind and the love he felt for the children was evident in his expression. Ash also made note of a golden ring on his ring finger. There was writing on the band but he could not make it out. "Sorry, Ash, but I can't let little monsters catch my family," he told him in a playful tone, his smile wide and comforting. Mia's face was aglow as the man rescued her from the rampaging monster that Ash had been playing. Ash then saw a younger version of his mother come to them, a golden ring on her finger along with the same writing. She was clad in a green and white one-piece bathing suit. Ash did not need to see his mother to know that the man was his father. The two then embraced and moved their faces closer together, prompting both Ash to look away in disgust. Mia quickly turned her head towards Ash and smiled mischievously, causing him to worry a bit. In the memory, he glanced back at his father as he stared into Delia's eyes. His father's appearance was far different from what he had imagined, for his mother had told him that his father left them when he was very young. It was then that he realized that the man he saw in his memory was the same, only a bit younger, as the figure that had been watching him from the stands. He had not gotten a clear view of the man in the stands, but he just knew that it was his father. His eyes went wide at the realization.

Eventually, he told Mia, "I think I saw Dad in the stands at our battle."

This got the girl's attention. "Dad? Are you sure it was him?"

"Not one hundred percent, but from what I remember, it was him," Ash answered.

"You remember Dad?" Mia asked, eying Ash; a hopeful expression on her face. Ash did not notice her expression, though.

"I remembered a beach scene from when we were six," Ash explained. "I was chasing you and Dad came and swept me up, saving you from the 'monster'." He spread out his arms in a way that made him look like a beast of some sort.

As he was explaining the memory, a smile came to Mia's face and she looked away, suppressing a giggle. After a little bit, her face became a little more downcast and she lowered her eyes. "Things were different then," she said wistfully. "We were younger, and we did not carry the responsibilities, or the burdens, that we do today, even though we are still kids."

Ash did not know what Mia was talking about, but his twin bond with her indicated that she was talking about more than the two of them becoming teenagers today. "What do you mean?" he asked.

She turned to face him and her expression darkened, becoming deadly serious. "Ash, you are now the World Pokémon League Champion," she told him. "That means that you are now the face of all of the Pokémon Leagues in the world. In a way, it's fortunate for the Pokémon League that you are the Champion, if I can't be, for I can now see that the bond you share with your Pokémon is second to none, which is essential for the Pokémon Leagues of the world. Now if only you would have shown that in our battle…" she chided.

"Why is it a good thing that I'm the Champion?"

"Because you care about Pokémon," she answered. "And you respect their wishes. Like me, most of your Pokémon joined your team completely voluntarily and, in essence, captured themselves," Mia explained. "That is a rarity among Pokémon Trainers, especially Pokémon Masters. You put a good face on the League, and that's essential given all of the negative press Pokémon Trainers got during the Galactic Federation Civil War."

"What negative press?" he asked, not understanding what she was talking about. "Pokémon Trainers were among the first to face off against Cyrus and the false Federation forces when they invaded Earth."

Mia gave a sigh and looked him in the eye. "During the war, many races in the Galactic Federation had bad opinions of humans, viewing them as hypocrites."

"Why?"

"Because while we say that we value the freedom rights of sentient beings as defined in the Bill of Rights, there are still Pokémon Trainers." came Mia's answer. "Pokémon Trainers own Pokémon. Yes there's a contract between humans and Pokémon in most regions where there is a Pokémon League that must be followed, but it's far from universal. In addition, you might not realize this, but Pokémon _are_ fully sentient beings. This fact is no longer in dispute, if it ever could be, morally. Pokémon can choose between right and wrong, good and evil. They know the consequences of their actions. For examples, look no further than the Meowth of Team Rocket that you brutalize whenever TR tries to steal your Pokémon or someone else's. Even their own Pokémon have rejected orders that they thought went too far."

"I never thought of it like that," Ash said, his eyes showing his surprise. "I mean I know that there are sentient Pokémon. As you mentioned, Pikachu is one, with Meowth of Team Rocket being another." He conspicuously, and purposefully, left absent his knowledge of Mewtwo and other sentient Pokémon that he had encountered. "It's just that I never knew that scientists had declared them sentient."

"That's because you never studied the supplementary materials, or took the tests that all Pokémon Trainers who take a leave of absence from school are given so that they can be eligible for high school or college," Mia answered. "The fact of the matter is that most of the world, and the galaxy, for that matter, has a very negative view on Pokémon Trainers, even the more benevolent ones."

"Why?"

"Because Pokémon Trainers capture Pokémon and use their Poké Balls to imprison them," she answered. "Poké Balls have a special property that causes Pokémon to, in essence, be drawn to them. Should they stray too far away from their balls, an invisible force will draw them back. Should they stay away for too long, they'll begin to have symptoms similar to withdrawal. These issues, however, are ignored once a Pokémon is released and the link between Pokémon and Poké Ball is broken. That's why Team Plasma was going for releasing all of the Pokémon of Unova. With the Pokémon released, there would be no force drawing the Pokémon back to the ball. They would truly be free."

Ash remembered an incident where a Ninetales had been bound to a Poké Ball. "Yeah, I remember," he told her. "There was a Ninetales that was constantly drawn back to its owner's Poké Ball, despite the fact that the owner had died a long time ago. Once the Poké Ball was destroyed, Ninetales was free to explore the region."

Mia nodded. "In essence, this means that a Pokémon Trainer has a secret weapon that can be used to control his or her Pokémon. Yes, a Pokémon can refuse an order, but a Trainer can simply recall the Pokémon into its Poké Ball should the Pokémon get out of line, and keep it trapped inside the ball for a long time to 'teach it a lesson'. It's easy to see how that is seen as slavery."

Ash nodded. He had never thought about such things before. He had always viewed being a Pokémon Trainer as a noble profession and once in a lifetime chance. Almost all of the powerful and elite Trainers he had ever encountered were nice to their Pokémon and viewed them as equals and friends, not as servants. He had always thought that Pokémon Trainers, as a whole, were highly respected. If they were looked down upon so much by the rest of the world, the world was hiding it quite well. "So, what am I supposed to do as Champion?" Ash asked.

"Be yourself," Mia answered with a genuine smile. "And disable the seals on the Poké Balls that draws a Pokémon back to it, just as I did. That will show everyone that you and your Pokémon are team of equals, rather than master and servant."

"Okay," Ash replied with a nod.

The two then smiled and passed the time by looking around the Pokémon Center as they waited for their Pokémon to be ready. The Center was sparsely populated and only a couple of people had come in since Ash and Mia had arrived, but they looked to simply be using it as a rest stop and place to pick up a meal.

After about ten more minutes or so of waiting, Mia checked her watch while Ash looked at the clock. Mia's arms were still crossed, but her expression changed from one of simply waiting to one of impatience, and even some suspicion. Even with double the load, it should not have taken this long for them to hear back from Nurse Joy, especially since none of their Pokémon had sustained any serious injuries from the battle. She headed over to the desk so she could send a call to Joy, but as she arrived, the nurse came to the desk, followed by Chansey, who was pushing a tray holding two boxes that were full of Poké Balls. Sitting on top of one of the trays, though, was Pikachu. "Your Pokémon are fully rested and healthy," Nurse Joy told the two teens.

"Was there anything wrong with any of them?" asked Mia, who was concerned for her Pokémon since they had been kept in back for such a long time.

Joy shook her head. "No, everything checked out just fine," she answered. "Since I saw the battle, though, I just wanted to make sure that there were no residual effects for those who were afflicted with paralysis or poisoning."

"Okay. Thank you," Mia responded answered. Joy then handed Ash and Mia the trays and they each took their Poké Balls. Ash clipped his balls to his waist, with Pikachu jumping up onto his shoulder, while Mia let out each of her Pokémon, two at a time. The two then proceeded to leave the center, Mia's Pokémon following her, with Nurse Joy calling after them, "If your Pokémon have any problems, come back and see me." Both Ash and Mia turned and gave her a nod before walking through the sliding doors and exiting the center. As they left, the two technicians had come back to the front. The man with lavender hair flipped up the collar of his shirt and spoke into a small microphone, "It's time. Go," in a sinister tone.

Outside the Pokémon Center, Ash and Mia were about to head their separate ways when Ash turned to his sister and asked, "So Mia, what're your plans?"

"I'm going to stay here for the time being and continue doing some research around the plateau," she answered.

"What are you researching?"

"The origin of Pokémon," she replied. "There are things about the various Pokémon legends that we have been told about ancient civilizations that don't add up when put together."

"Whadaya mean?" Ash asked.

"It's all very complicated," she responded, thinking that Ash would not be able to understand the whole explanation. As such, she simplified it into, "It's just that certain evidence seems to go against there being very old civilizations based on Pokémon, possibly save for Mew, the Creation Trio, and possibly Arceus. Though certain recent events indicate that Arceus may not be what some legends claim."

"What do you mean?"

"On the eve of the Galactic Federation Civil War, just after Elric had died, Cyrus of Team Galactic had summoned Dark Arceus, an Arceus that was naturally of the Dark-type, but could use plates to switch to any type he wished, to this world," she explained. "Dark Arceus was also an evil counterpart to the normal Arceus that you encountered in Michina Town, and far more powerful, having the power of all of the plates. This one had powers closer to those spoken of in legends. He broke free of Cyrus's control almost immediately and was about to destroy the world when a Pokémon called Mewtwo appeared and fought him. After a long a difficult battle, Mewtwo defeated him, killing him in the process, and saved the universe."

"Wow, I never knew that," Ash replied.

"Few people do," Mia told him. "I only found out from a Mew who had saved me from being killed by Elric's Watchmen literally hours before the battle."

The two remained still for a few seconds before Ash looked over at her and asked, "So, Mia, do you wanna come over to my, or should I say, _our_ birthday party?" His eyes were bright and his smile hopeful as he asked. "It's your party, too, especially since we're twins and our Pokémon battle ended in a draw. I only won when it came to the tiebreaker fight, a fight where you held back."

"No more than you," Mia retorted with a smile. "And likely less."

"So, are you gonna come?"

Mia thought about Ash's offer for a few seconds before deciding, "Sure, I'll come."

"Yes!" Ash cheered, jumping into the air. Pikachu, however, was less than enthusiastic about Mia accepting the offer, still remembering how she had restrained him while Tyranitar had blasted him with a Stone Edge attack, knocking him out. He cringed, for he still did not trust Mia, despite her relation to Ash. In addition, he was mistrustful of her Pokémon as well, particularly Tyranitar, who seemed to always be eager for a fight.

Ash went over to her and said, "C'mon, the others are waiting." He then rushed towards the hotel where they were going to celebrate. "Race you to it!" he called over to her in challenge.

Mia merely gave a smile, not taking the bait. She knew that he would call her a coward for not taking the challenge, but she wanted to let her Pokémon roam around outside of their Poké Balls. She did not know if all of them would be able to rush after the two of them. Besides, there were other issues that she was concerned about. She turned and looked up at one of the buildings behind her and saw the rippling of a cloak as a figure ducked behind a chimney. Before following Ash, she told Starmie and Chandelure, "Stay alert. I think we're being followed. Alert me if you see anything suspicious."

Chandelure bobbed up and down, as did Starmie, affirming her warning and command. She and the others then followed Ash, who had slowed down once he realized that she was not going to race him, at a leisurely pace. She was still on edge, though, knowing that there were likely only two people who would be following her right now, and be able to stay out of sight. One was good, the other was an evil far more dangerous than Ash or anyone on Earth, save for someone like Mewtwo, could possibly imagine. With that sense of foreboding, she caught up with Ash and walked with him to the hotel.

Not too far away from the two teens, the two workers from the Pokémon Center emerged from around the corner of a building and watched as they raced towards the hotel. Standing in front of them was a Meowth, a bipedal tan furred cat-like Pokémon with a gold charm on the top of its head. The two humans standing behind the Meowth all had sinister looks on their faces as they followed the teens at a distance, being careful to stay as far behind as they could, for Mia was constantly looking over her shoulder at random intervals and seemed to be communicating with her Chandelure, something that put them ill at ease. Still, they were primarily interested not in the girl, but in Ash, for they had a long history with him.

"Looks like the twerp has a girlfriend," Jessie, the woman with long, magenta hair stated.

"And she seems to be very cautious," James, the young man with lavender hair responded. "Still, if we jump them now, we might be able to get Pikachu, or possibly one of the other Pokémon."

"If ya wanted Pikachu, you shoulda grabbed him while he was bein' looked at in the Pokeemon Center," Meowth blurted, drawing a look of scorn from Jessie. "If we go now, we'd just be in for a woild of hoit. The so-called former champ, Leaf's, no slouch."

"Still, we would at the very least equal them in numbers," Jessie noted.

"And we could set up a trap to separate them from their Pokémon," James added.

Meowth turned to them and glared. "Yeah, but da boss told us to merely spy on them and infiltrate their party. He has somethin' special planned for them. We don't wanna screw this up. Let's just stick to the plan and infiltrate this party. If da boss is right, then Team Rocket'll be able to score a knockout blow ta the enemy with one strike."

The humans nodded as they continued to follow the teens as they headed to the hotel, being careful to stay as far back as possible, as well as keep their minds clear so that any evil intentions would not be picked up by any Psychic-type Pokémon that the teens, or anyone else at the party, may have had.

Meanwhile, over in a ruined building in small town not too far away from the Indigo Plateau, a mysterious figure wearing a cloak stood in the center of an empty room, the only furniture being a small table upon which a crystal ball was placed. The figure gazed into the crystal ball and looked at the scene of Ash and Mia walking towards the hotel. The image soon shifted towards a tall building in the same town as he sensed the arrival of two members of Team Rocket, and a Pokémon that was being kept in suspension. He grinned. It would not be long now, for while he had not had any particular interest in the teens or Team Rocket, yet, their actions were almost certain to draw the attention of his true interest. Looking back at the hotel, he saw another figure not too far away from the children. He was about to look more closely when he suddenly recognized the figure and peeled his gaze away.

"No way," he muttered quietly. "Of all the people to appear here now, why did it have to be him?"

He quickly diverted his gaze and focused back in on Team Rocket. The Elite Officer was now headed to Giovanni's office to make her report. He knew that the time would soon come for him to reveal himself to Team Rocket's boss. While he had hoped that Giovanni would be successful in his plans without needing his help, he knew that there was no way for his own desires to be fulfilled if Giovanni had won as he had expected. Giovanni had to be guided to his victory, or at least come close enough to draw his true target into the open. This plan had been in the process of being formulated since the end of the Galactic Federation Civil War. He had already taken several steps to ensure that Giovanni would achieve his goals, at least in the short term. In the long term, though, he had no wishes beyond the destruction of his target. However, if Earth found itself embroiled in a civil war and was devastated, he would not complain. After all, if the right targets were killed, then things would be all that much better for his own people. All he had to do now was wait and see what happened.

Not too far away from Ash and Mia, a man with green skin, orange hair and a beard watched from the top of one of the buildings. He looked down at the two teenagers as they raced towards the hotel and grinned evilly. For a scant moment, he felt the gaze of another upon him. He could feel that this individual was quite powerful, too. He considered tracing the scan back to it source, but he decided against it when the scan was abruptly halted. He grinned, figuring that whoever it was must have heard of him and decided not to risk a confrontation. He then refocused back on Ash and Mia. He soon sensed that Mia, or one of her Pokémon, must have sensed or spotted him and he backed off a bit, suppressing his power so that he would be harder to track. Just as he had done so, he sensed the arrival of another on the rooftop. Looking back, he saw a human male in his early thirties with black hair, blue eyes, wearing a red and white jacket over a black shirt, and jeans. Surprised by the new arrival, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

The man answered, "I was sent here by Master Hand to assist in gaining new troops for the army. What are you doing here, Ganondorf?" the man asked the Gerudo King.

"The same thing as you, it seems," Ganondorf retorted.

"Then why are you focusing on two kids?" the human asked.

"Because those kids are Chosen Heroes, as is the boy's Pikachu," Ganondorf answered with a smirk. "If either of them can be turned, they would be great assets, especially if we get their Pokémon as well. That Pikachu would also make a great prize."

"I see," the man said.

Ganondorf merely smirked. "If you're here to secure new troops, then start securing them," Ganondorf suggested in a tone that made it sound more like an order than a suggestion.

"You're quite right," the man said. He then turned to depart. As he departed, he looked back at Ganondorf and said quietly, and inaudibly to the Gerudo King, "Leave my family out of this. They are no threat to you." With that, the man left and Ganondorf continued to spy on the two Trainers as they continued towards the hotel.

Meanwhile, back in Team Rocket Headquarters, Domino stood inside a large room with a single desk near a large, glass window. The window showed a wide expanse, as well as most of the Indigo Plateau. Domino went over to a tall man with short brown hair, black eyes dressed in a dark gray to nearly black suit with two sets of buttons coming down the left and right parts of his jacket, who was sitting at his desk, looking over a series of reports. Sitting next to him on the floor was a cat-like Pokémon with short, tan fur and a red jewel in the middle of its forehead called a Persian. It was purring as the leader of Team Rocket absently pet it on its head. Domino stopped at the entrance, knocked on the door, then waited. "Enter," came Giovanni's reply.

She stepped into the room and reported, "Giovanni, sir, you wished for me to see you upon my return."

"Yes," he said in a grave tone. "And…?"

"Our mission was a success. We recovered the Genesect and all of the data files that went with the research towards the Pokémon. Science Division is already studying the data. They should have a preliminary report shortly."

"Were you seen?"

"We encountered a single scientist, but I killed him. I also made it look like he was a victim of a mugging so no one would suspect that it was us."

"Good," Giovanni said with stern satisfaction. "With Genesect under our control, we'll have one of the ultimate Pokémon for use in our mission. And with the data for cloning it as well, we will be able to create more than one should the need arise."

Domino grinned as Giovanni's face split into a grin. She then waited to see if he needed anything else from her, which he did. He then spoke again, "I wish I could say that your work is finished, but this is only part of our plan. I have another task for you."

"What is it, sir?"

"Jessie, James, and Meowth are infiltrating a party that is said to be being held by the mother of Ash Ketchum, the new World Pokémon League Champion. Not only that, but sources indicate that Leaf will also be attending the party, too."

"Those three?" Domino blurted, unable to hide her shock. "Are you sure they're up for the task? They're incompetent morons! This mission is too important to risk _them_ being on it and screwing it up." There was also something else. For a moment, she thought that she might have known the name, Ash Ketchum, from somewhere. She then shook off the thought and returned her attention to her boss.

"Perhaps," Giovanni said in response to her concern, not disagreeing with her assessment of their capabilities. "But they managed to not fail too badly in Unova. Even so, they are merely workers that will assist our forces in gaining entry to the hotel and the party."

"I understand, sir," Domino said. "Are there any other special orders or mission objectives?"

"No," came Giovanni's answer. "Your only goal is to eliminate as many of the Elite Trainers gathered there as possible, particularly Leaf, Ash, and Lance and Cynthia if they show up. Their demise is our primary concern. This Ash Ketchum has a number of friends among the Gym Leaders of the Kanto and Unova Region. These Gym Leaders are also the most likely source of resistance to us for when we finally make our move. They must be dealt with, the sooner, the better."

"Understood, sir," Domino replied, bowing once more towards Giovanni. As she departed, she could not help but give a sinister smile. Finally, she would be getting some real action once more.

Once Domino had departed, Giovanni went over and sat in his chair. His Persian came over and sat close to him. He absently pet his Pokémon and said, "Soon, soon the time of Team Rocket will come, and our previous failures will be things of the past." He then sat back and relaxed in his chair.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

As Ash and Mia continued on their way towards the hotel, Mia told Ash about the responsibilities of being the new World Pokémon League Champion. In her speech, she informed him that the World Pokémon League was relatively new and was an attempt by the various Pokémon Leagues to put a kinder face on Pokémon Trainers of the world. It would be his duty to help the League and others stop the illegal Pokémon trade and take down criminal organizations like Team Rocket. She also told him that while many criminal organizations had already been dealt with, that there were new ones constantly popping up, with many less than reputable Trainers and Pokémon joining them. The amount of responsibilities that came to a Champion came as a surprise to him. He knew that some Champions had taken interests in stopping criminal organizations like Team Rocket, but that was mainly due to their own interests coinciding with stopping the organizations, and mostly only on a small scale. As they continued to travel, though, Ash knew that Mia was quite different from many of the Champions that he had heard of. While many of the Champions were reactionary, she was proactive. She actively sought out the criminal organizations before they could put their plans into action and stopped them. He also learned that even before she had become the World Pokémon League Champion, she had practically destroyed Team Rocket, forcing them to rely on agents like Jessie, James, and Meowth to scout out the Unova Region for not only possible expansion, but also for a secondary headquarters should their Kanto headquarters fall. "So, what's the status of Team Rocket now?" Ash asked after Mia had finished her speech.

"They're in trouble," she answered. "But they're not gone yet. They have supposedly been destroyed and disbanded twice…three times if you count the short-lived attempt to reorganize on the Sevii Islands. Of all of the major criminal organizations that make extensive use of Pokémon, Team Rocket is the longest lasting, and quite possibly the most dangerous due to the fact that they have yet to truly be destroyed. Not only that, but Giovanni has political connections. That's why even when he has been captured, he has never gone to trial. Even so, though, Team Rocket is merely a shadow of its former self. Hopefully, it will soon be nothing more than a bad memory."

"So what are your plans once the party is over?"

"As I've told you before, nothing much," Mia replied distantly. "I'm probably going to study more Pokémon legends and see how they connect, if they connect, and what their origins may have been. Why?"

Ash gave her an awkward glance before answering, "I was wondering if you'd want to come back home after the party. Mom'll really want to catch up with you."

Mia then looked downcast and a slight frown crossed her face. Noticing her sudden change in expression, he asked in a concerned tone, "What is it?"

Mia was silent for several moments. She looked up at him with a sad expression etched on her face. Ash backed away a bit, wondering if he had offended her or done something else wrong before she finally gave an answer, "I don't even know if Mom knows that I exist."

He was incredulous. "What makes you say that?" he asked, shocked at her reply.

"Did you have any inkling that you had a sister, much less a twin sister, until our battle?" she responded sadly.

"Good point," Ash replied gloomily with a shrug.

He then thought back on the recent events that had transpired and wondered just how it was possible for him to forget that he had had a twin sister. It boggled his mind. There was no way he should have simply forgotten something like that, even if there was some traumatic memory, especially since she had not been killed or had anything else done to her, that he knew of. He doubted that it was simple amnesia, since he had memories from when he was young, younger than he was when he had his last memory of Mia, and that she was not in any of those memories. Yet now, those same memories were beginning to have her appear in them, such as the memory of them playing on the beach with their parents watching. Still, despite the fact that he now knew about her and that certain memories were coming back to him, there were still many blanks to fill in. He still did not know why he had forgotten her in the first place. Had she been kidnapped, or gravely injured and presumed dead? He doubted the latter, since she showed no sign of having any scars anywhere on her body, and the former did not make much sense on its own either. There had to be more to it than that, for neither of those things would likely have caused him to forget about her entirely. And there was also the fact that there were no pictures of her in their home. Thinking back on it, he also realized that there were no pictures of their father, either, but that was another issue. He tried to think back on what could have happened but nothing came to mind. Eventually, he asked, "Mia, what happened all those years ago? Do you have any idea why and/or how I could have forgotten you?"

Mia stopped and then looked back at him. She answered in a hard voice that was not directed at him, "I was kidnapped by agents of Team Rocket."

"Team Rocket?" Ash gasped. He had never heard of Team Rocket kidnapping people, particularly children, before. He thought that they were mostly after Pokémon and that their goal was world domination.

Mia nodded in affirmation of his question. "Why?" Ash asked. "Team Rocket is mostly associated with Pokémon and the illegal Pokémon trade. Their goal is to conquer the world. Why would they kidnap you?"

"Because they wanted to have a series of Pokémon Trainers infiltrate the Pokémon League and take it over from the inside, and I happened to have the right personality and skills," she answered harshly, much more so than she had intended. It was obvious that this conversation was bringing back painful memories. Ash's eyes went wide with shock at her blurt. Seeing his reaction, she calmed down, apologizing, and saying, "I'm sorry. It's just that that time was tough. They tried to make me into a monster, trying to get us to abuse humans and Pokémon alike, punishing us should we not do as they commanded. And oftentimes, the punishment was the abuse of some one else, either a child or Pokémon, rather than us directly. Perhaps they succeeded," she added under her breath. She quickly got back to the story without missing a beat, continuing where she had left off, "I escaped fairly quickly, along with several other children. Others, however, stayed behind, some of them voluntarily. Some of those that stayed behind also managed to infiltrate my group and sold us out when we made our escape attempt." She then looked down at the ground and continued, "As a result, we had to fight our kidnappers, as well as the turncoats, in order to escape." A dark grin then crossed her face as she looked up at him and continued, "Fortunately, all of the kids that came with me managed to escape alive and unharmed. Team Rocket, on the other hand, suffered several fatalities, including two Team Rocket Executives and one of the children that chosen to stay behind and betray us. I dealt with him, myself." Her dark grin and the happy tone she used at the mention of having dealt with the traitor of the group, with the implication being that she had killed him, unnerved Ash quite a bit. She turned to him and gave a kind smile. "But enough about my so-called sob story. How have you been?"

"Fine, I guess," he answered with a nervous chuckle, not really knowing how to follow Mia's story. "I've just become the World Pokémon League Champion," he added with a chuckle. He noticed Mia give a slight smile. "Other than that, I've had a normal life for a Pokémon Trainer. I've entered numerous leagues, only winning a couple of them, before coming back home to challenge and beat the Kanto League and later becoming the World Champion, of course. The Orange League was the first. I've made many new Pokémon friends and have a powerful team, plus many powerful reserves."

Looking over to see his sister's reaction, he found that her expression had not changed. "I see," was all she said in response. Ash tried to utilize his twin bond with her to see what she was thinking, but her mind was closed; either that, or he was simply not experienced enough in using the bond to be able to read her thoughts directly. The two then continued to walk towards the hotel where his mother and Professor Oak were planning his victory celebration and birthday party. As they walked, Ash looked over at Mia to see how she was doing. He noticed that a dark smile was still etched onto her face. While he knew that she had no ill intentions for him or the rest of the family, there was still something unnerving about her.

Meanwhile, not too far away, Giovanni entered the lab area of Team Rocket's current headquarters, where several scientists were hard at work studying the Pokémon inside the large tube. Only the face of the Pokémon would be visible, and only if one looked down at the semi-transparent window. However, there were several diagrams and computer images of the Pokémon on the screens all around the room. As he entered, he glanced around the room and saw the scientists hard at work studying the Pokémon inside the tank in the center of the room. He quickly found Gideon looking over some reports and directing the other scientists and went over to him. As he neared the scientist, he asked, "So, what have you got so far?"

Gideon nearly jumped at the sound of Giovanni's voice. He quickly turned around and saw that Giovanni was waiting for his response. Quickly regaining his composure, he replied, "Well, we haven't had all that much time to work on the Pokémon, but from what we've seen so far, it looks like Genesect was the perfect predator of its time. However, Team Plasma definitely was making some modifications to the Pokémon."

"That doesn't seem like them," Giovanni noted almost absently.

"I know," Gideon agreed. "That's probably why the project was scrapped by N," he added with a chuckle.

Giovanni echoed the lead scientist's chuckle. "And you found this out, how?" the Rocket boss asked.

"There were several reports that came with Genesect. Domino and I made certain to download them all so that we would have all the information we needed in order to restore this Pokémon fully and use it properly."

Giovanni gave a curt nod and went over to check the screen, which showed a computer-generated image of Genesect. The image showed the form of the Pokémon, highlighting certain parts of it, parts that looked to be mechanical in nature. "It seems as if they were performing cybernetic enhancements on it," he noted, examining the image.

Gideon nodded. "They were. Most notable is the cannon on its head called a Photon Blaster."

Giovanni grinned as he listened to Gideon's description and looked over the fearsome-looking Genesect. "How strong is it?"

"We don't know for certain," Gideon answered, "but given all of the preliminary data that we've obtained, it's very strong. I don't know if it would stand up to Legendary Pokémon like Reshiram, Zekrom, or Pokémon in that class, but it'll definitely be a threat to Legendaries like the Legendary Beasts such as Raikou and Suicune, cute Legendaries, or many other normal Legendaries that don't have a type advantage against it."

"What about the Creation Trio or some of the other Super Legendaries?"

"Again, I don't know," Gideon answered, shrugging. "Some of the Super Legendaries are quite powerful. Still, unless there's a rash of Legendary Pokémon Trainers, Genesect will be a tremendous boon to Team Rocket and be exceedingly difficult to take down."

"Excellent," Giovanni cooed, grinning.

"And that's not all," Gideon continued. He then motioned for Giovanni to follow him to a computer on the right side of the room, which the Team Rocket leader did. Once they arrived at the computer, Gideon input a few commands on the keyboard and a series of letters and numbers appeared on the screen.

"What is this?" Giovanni asked.

"We didn't know, at first; which is why we didn't focus much on it until now."

Giovanni was getting impatient. "So, what is it?"

"It's code for a program that would release all of the Pokémon of the Unova Region from their storage in PCs. In addition, a modification was made that would free them from Poké Balls, too. In addition, any form of control over that Pokémon, be it based on Poké Balls, the computer, or even badges, would be gone," Gideon answered.

Giovanni's eyes went wide in shock. "So _this_ is what Team Plasma was working on before they were disbanded."

Gideon nodded. "This is the Holy Grail of Pokémon freedom," Gideon proclaimed. "Or control," he added darkly. "If we can modify this program to be useful in Kanto, as well as to enslave, rather than free, the Pokémon, we could use it to literally make all Pokémon that are controlled by a Pokémon Trainer to become the property of Team Rocket." Seeing Giovanni's grin widen, he continued, "I already took the liberty of having all of our IT specialists study this code and learn how to modify it to be useful in Kanto. They are working on it as we speak."

"Tell them to expand it to the entire world," Giovanni commanded in an excited tone. "Bring in anyone and everyone that you need to get this done."

The command took Gideon off guard a little. "Okay," he stammered. "It may take some time to expand the protocols to the rest of the world. Even once we get all of it working, we aren't certain that it will work for Kanto, much less the rest of Japan or even the world. In addition, there are still sections of code that appear to be missing or garbled, so that will have to be worked out, too. Also, for this to work, we'll have to build our own computer network so that we can store the Pokémon inside the computer. And there is still the possibility of the Pokémon simply refusing our commands. We'll need to find some way to control the Pokémon once we get them into our network."

"That won't be a problem," Giovanni exclaimed. "Just do it! This could be the key to us finally conquering the entire world after so many failures and near collapses. Even if our current plan fails, we'll still have a good shot at succeeding if we can modify this program and execute it."

"Even with all Trainer owned Pokémon under our control, we'd still have to deal with the Earth's military," Gideon noted. "And even if we conquered the Earth, we'd then have to deal with the Galactic Federation."

Giovanni grinned again. "Fortunately, Silph Corporation is working on a new version of the Master Ball that will help us in that regard. The new Master Ball they are producing can capture any Pokémon that we encounter without fail, even if that Pokémon is a Legendary Pokémon. Not only that, but those Pokémon will be directly under our control, thanks to your Badge Amplifier, so they'll fight alongside us. They will be great assets when the Galactic Federation comes to try to stop us."

"Let's hope so," Gideon said. Once he was finished his tour, Giovanni left the lab and went back to his office so he could plan his next move, a grin plastered on his face. Finally, things were looking up.

Back over on the Indigo Plateau, Ash and Mia entered the hotel and were making their way to the dinner hall. They went past the check-in desk, Ash pulling out and presenting his ID card, at the receptionist's desk, and continuing down the hall until he came to an escalator. As Mia's Pokémon tried to pass with her, though, a female receptionist with light brown hair called out, "Excuse me, miss, but your Pokémon will have to be confined to their Poké Balls while you are in the hallways."

"What?" Mia blurted. "I thought that hotels on the Indigo Plateau allowed Pokémon to be outside of their Poké Balls!"

"Inside specially designated rooms, yes, but inside the hallways, the Pokémon must be confined to their Poké Balls. It's to keep everything neat."

A part of Mia wanted to argue the point, but her Pokémon made the decision to let the argument lie a little easier as Tyranitar and Chandelure each went back into their Poké Balls. Mia then gripped her remaining balls and told everyone, "Okay everyone, as long we're in the halls, you'll have to be in your balls."

The rest of her Pokémon had no complaints and each went into their Poké Balls without protest. Once they were inside, she clipped them back to the belt around her skirt and rushed after Ash.

While Mia had been stopped at reception, Ash walked down the hall, gazing in awe all around the hotel's lobby and hall. This was not like the small guesthouse that he had been staying in during time on the Plateau during his Elite Four and Champion battles. This was a five-star hotel. He wondered how his mother could afford such accommodations. Looking over at Pikachu, he could see Pikachu's eyes sparkling in wonder at the scenery. He looked behind him and saw Mia rushing after him. She looked at him and quickly noticed that Pikachu had not been requested to be placed back inside his Poké Ball. She scowled. _So Pokémon who are cute and cuddly are allowed to remain outside of their Poké Balls in this hotel but the big and strong ones aren't_, she almost seethed. She promptly continued down the hallway, glaring at Pikachu, causing the electric mouse to quickly recoil a bit and turn away.

Mia quickly caught up with Ash and rushed by as he was gazing at the scenery. Seeing that he was moving a little too slowly, she gripped his arm and pulled him along. He shrugged and staggered forward enough so that she would not have to keep pulling. He could tell that she was annoyed but did not know why, and was smart enough not to ask. Once he had regained his footing and was keeping up, Mia let him go and the two of them quickly arrived at the escalator. They stepped on the escalator and let it carry them down to the hotel's lower level. As they were riding down, Ash looked out over the side at the various advertisements on the side. Numerous shows and conventions were being advertised, as well as the next challenge for the Elite Four. This one, though, was merely a challenge of the Kanto Elite Four. Looking over at Mia, he found that she was already down the escalator, looking back at him with an annoyed expression. "Come on," she bellowed. "Let's get going. We have a birthday to celebrate! Or rather, two!" He then rushed down the escalator, quickly catching up to her once more before she turned to right and performed a U-turn, heading down a short corridor. Neither of the twins stopped to look at the scenery and instead, surged forward to the end of the corridor and took the right at its end, entering the final corridor. To the right were two large doors that led to the hall where the celebration was going to take place. Over the doors was a sign that read _Dragonite Hall_. Ash and Mia approached the closest of the large doors and pushed them open when they arrived, and went into the hall.

The interior of the hall was bright and there were rows of tables and lines of trays that had food of all sorts, both for humans as well as Pokémon. As soon as Ash entered, the everyone inside turned to face the door and, seeing him, cried, "Happy birthday!" Delia rushed over to her son and gave him a fierce hug. "Happy birthday, honey," she said as she hugged him. "And congratulations on your big win," she added. Ash looked around and saw the rest of the party beaming. He smiled as he saw all of his friends standing and looking at him. In the year or so since he had seen many of them, they had not changed too much. He also noticed that they all had their Pokémon out. He soon heard the openings of several Poké Balls behind him and saw that each of Mia's Pokémon appear on the floor, which caused several of the guests and chefs to recoil in surprise. Each of her Pokémon went over to the buffet trays that had Pokémon food, as well as some food for the human guests, and proceeded to grab large handfuls of food and eat right in front of the trays. A few of Ash's friends' Pokémon got annoyed and went up to try to stop Mia's Pokémon from hogging the food. One Pokémon in particular, Dawn's Piplup, a small blue bipedal penguin-like Pokémon, went over to Tyranitar, who was standing over one of the trays of Pokémon food and devouring large portions of it and tried to get him to move. Piplup gave a series of cries and comically tried to move the large Pokémon with no success. Tyranitar barely noticed the penguin, and did not know, or care, that he was blocking the tray. Piplup soon yelled at him again, drawing a bark from Tyranitar, who thought that Piplup wanted some food and still had enough space to get some food. He even moved a step to his left to accommodate the small Pokémon but did no more as he still continued to eat from the tray. Piplup refused to back down and then began to argue with him about his eating of all the food. Piplup's high voice made him sound like a small child, rather than a decently powerful Pokémon that Tyranitar would take seriously. The Rock/Dark-type Pokémon gave a shrug and ignored the penguin's complaints as he continued to eat, stepping to his left once more to give the penguin some space, though it was not enough in Piplup's eyes. Piplup yelled at him some more, which only prompted Tyranitar to turn and emit a loud roar in Piplup's direction, which nearly knocked the penguin off his feet. He then turned back to the tray and continued eating, this time making sure to block it completely so that no one could get to it at all.

Piplup quickly recovered and was seething with rage. He gave a loud cry before unleashing a vicious stream of bubbles towards Tyranitar. The Bubblebeam attack scored a direct hit on Tyranitar's back, but did not inflict any real damage. All it did was push Tyranitar a little over the tray, which only served to get his attention and annoy him. The large Pokémon turned and glared menacingly down at Piplup, who recoiled in surprise at the ineffectiveness of what should have been a super effective against the Rock/Dark-type. Piplup began to inch away in fear from Tyranitar before he stopped and a scowl crossed his. He would not let this perceived bully simply walk all over him like this. Piplup looked Tyranitar in the eyes and glared. Tyranitar merely grinned, knowing that there was nothing Piplup could do to defeat him. He could take over a dozen of those Bubblebeam attacks before feeling any real strain. Piplup was a Contest Pokémon, not a fighter like he was.

Before the incident escalated any further, Mia looked over at Tyranitar and called, "Tyranitar!"

The large Pokémon looked back at the girl, who was shaking her head and scowling, indicating that he should control himself and not get drawn into a fight. He returned her scowl and then looked back at the penguin, who was now flanked by Lopunny, a brown bi-pedal rabbit-like Pokémon that looked to be the size of a human, Togekiss, a large white bird with markings on its abdomen, and a Typhlosion, a bipedal Pokémon that could also walk on all fours. It had a bear-like physique with a collar of fire surrounding its neck. Its face, underside, arms, and legs, were cream colored, with a dark bluish gray back. Physically, it was similar to either wolverines or badgers. Each of the Pokémon glared at Tyranitar and looked as if they were preparing to attack, which only caused Tyranitar to grin and prepare for battle. Despite Mia's warning, he would not let this challenge go unanswered.

Seeing the commotion not too far away, Venusaur and Chandelure quickly joined their comrade and faced off against Piplup and his friends, hoping that their presence would decrease the tensions, since they doubted that anyone wanted a serious fight to break out at a time of celebration. As soon as they joined with Tyranitar, Piplup and his friends were beginning to power a series of attacks attacks, which prompted Tyranitar, Venusaur, and Chandelure to respond in kind. The burgeoning skirmish quickly caught the attention of Dawn, who quickly went over to the battle and asked, "Hey Piplup, what's going on?"

Piplup turned and noticed Dawn coming and rushed over to her. Once he arrived, he pointed at Tyranitar and the others and told Dawn what had happened. She did not immediately understand what Piplup was saying, but was quickly able to translate when she saw three fearsome Pokémon squaring off in preparation for a battle. She patted Piplup on the head, calming him down, and told him, "Don't worry. I'll handle this." She then called over her two remaining Pokémon, "Mamoswine, Pachirisu, we could use your help."

Just then, a large Pokémon that looked like it was a cross between a wooly mammoth and a boar with thick brown fur, two long tusks, and a mask-like appearance to its face, and a white squirrel-like Pokémon with a blue stripe that extended from its forehead all the way to its tail, a large white tooth, and yellow cheeks joined Dawn as she went over to Tyranitar, Venusaur, and Chandelure. "We don't take kindly to party crashers," Dawn said, glaring at Tyranitar. "Who are you, what are you doing here, and how did you get in?" she asked harshly, not taking kindly to the trio.

Tyranitar shrugged and gave a deep-throated response, which came out as a series of grunts and roars. He knew that his language could not be understood by humans, and that it was gibberish to them, but he did not want to engage in a battle if he could reasonably avoid it. All he really wanted was to have a decent meal and to be left alone. In his mind, he had even given the penguin enough space to get some food from the tray. The other two Pokémon merely said that they were coming to back up Tyranitar and did not want a fight to break out. Dawn managed to glean what Tyranitar was saying, but was still skeptical of him, despite the fact that Tyranitar was not pushing the issue with Piplup and had yet to actually retaliate by launching an actual attack.

Seeing that Piplup had gotten additional reinforcements, Tyranitar, Venusaur, and Chandelure assumed fighter's stances when new arrivals in the form of Charizard and Pikachu came over and stood in between the two sides. Pikachu talked to Piplup and the rest of Dawn's team while Charizard did his best to calm Mia's Pokémon. Despite Pikachu and Charizard's pleas, though, the two groups were still preparing to do battle when they heard Mia's voice call out over the din, "Okay, cool it everyone, now, or _I'll_ end the battle for you!"

Both groups looked over at Mia, who was approaching the two groups of Pokémon with two Poké Balls in her hands, as well as having her backpack open incase she needed stronger means of stopping any potential fighting. Glancing over at Mia and seeing how serious she was, Tyranitar backed down and looked over at her, glaring for a moment before he gave a stiff bow her way. This prompted Venusaur and Chandelure to back down as well and walk away from the fight. They simply went to another tray and proceeded to eat some more food. Tyranitar, however, continued to glare at Piplup as Dawn went over and set down a bowl of Pokémon food for him. After placing the bowl in front of Piplup, who quickly dove into the food, she looked up and noticed that the girl that had intervened in the battle was none other than Leaf, Ash's opponent from the Championship battle.

Back near Mia, Tyranitar considered going over and take some food from the annoying Pokémon for a fleeting moment, but Mia's glare quickly banished any thought of any more dealings with Piplup. "Don't even think about it," she warned.

Tyranitar gave a grunt and proceeded to walk over to the corner to sulk. Mia then went over to Dawn, who was shocked to learn that the newcomer was none other than Ash's opponent in the league. She did not care about Dawn's surprise and simply apologized for Tyranitar, saying, "I apologize for Tyranitar's behavior. I won't let another incident like this happen again."

Dawn was surprised by Mia's apology. Seeing that there was no harm inflicted to Piplup, though, she decided to let the issue with Tyranitar lie. "That's no problem." A more stern expression soon crossed her face, though, as she continued, "The issue now is, how did you get in here? This party is by invitation only."

"I was invited," Mia told Dawn in a soft voice that if Ash had heard would have sounded quite out of character for her.

"By whom?"

"By Ash," Mia answered.

"Ash invited you?" Dawn asked, almost shocked at the revelation. "When?"

Mia hesitated for a moment before answering, since she did not want to reveal her connections to him so quickly. "Not too long ago," she eventually answered.

Dawn merely gave a little chuckle. "So Ash has a girlfriend," she muttered to herself as she went to mingle with some of the other guests. "Who would have guessed?" She had intended for the statement to be out of earshot of Mia, but the former World Champion heard every word. "No," she answered quietly. "At least, not that I know of."

She soon looked out over the party and saw Ash talking with their mother and Professor Oak. All of his Pokémon were out of their Poké Balls and enjoying the party, as were her own. She also saw many of Ash's other Pokémon that had participated in many of the other battles that had led to his fateful battle against her. She quickly identified Ash's own Venusaur, his Glalie, a round Pokémon about the size of a human with black skin with ice covering most of its skin and two black conical horns on either side of its head; his own Garchomp, his Sceptile, a green bipedal lizard-like Pokémon that had a red lower jaw and band around his waist, six yellow seed-like nodules on his back, a palm tree branch-like tail, and a twig in his mouth. She remembered that Sceptile had been one of three Pokémon to have ever defeated Tobias's Darkrai, her own Tyranitar being another to have accomplished the feat. She also quickly spotted Ash's Infernape standing around several other Pokémon. Infernape was a powerful monkey-like Pokémon with brownish-red fur on his body with a section of white fur on his chest, head, and legs, along with gold swirl-like shoulder pads, kneepads, and wristbands, and a Krookodile, a bipedal almost maroon crocodile-like Pokémon native to the Unova region. She suspected that the sunglasses that the Pokémon wore were unique to this individual Pokémon. She also noticed her own Pokémon mingling with Ash's, getting to know them a little better, which warmed her heart. The only one missing from that scene was Tyranitar, who was still sulking in the corner.

Seeing Tyranitar looking at the party, glaring at anyone and everyone that crossed into his view and generally not having a good time, she pulled out her Pokédex and activated its translation software. She then went over to the large Rock/Dark-type Pokémon and said, "Okay Tyranitar, what's bothering you?" She had a feeling that she knew, but she wanted to hear his answer first.

He gave a series of grunts, which were quickly translated by the Pokédex and appeared as words on the screen. His response was, [Where do I begin? Oh yeah, first you throw your fight against your brother, and now you won't let me defend myself against a spoiled Contest brat! What's going on with you?]

Mia grimaced. "First of all, I _didn't_ throw the battle against Ash."

[Yes you did!] Tyranitar protested. [You only entered the battle once throughout the entire thing!]

"Yeah, to help you against the yellow electric sewer rat of doom," Mia retorted with a harsh chuckle. That took Tyranitar aback and he looked away for a few seconds before glaring at her with barely controlled rage.

[So why didn't you do it for the others? Venusaur could have definitely used your help against Charizard.]

"There's a size difference between a rat like Pikachu, who can ride on my brother's shoulder, and a Pokémon like Charizard, who would crush him if he landed on him," Mia answered. "Besides, weapons like guns aren't allowed in such battles, even non-lethal weapons like lightning guns set to stun, and Tasers."

[And your fight against Ash?]

"He's my brother, and I underestimated him once I was beating the tar out of him. Really. He's my brother." Tyranitar was skeptical, and Mia's insistence did nothing to dissuade him of the idea that she threw the fight. "Do you honestly think that I would actually try to injure him?" she asked. She let him ponder the question for a few seconds, knowing that there was more to what was bothering Tyranitar than he was letting on. Eventually she asked, "What's your real problem? I know it isn't the battle."

Tyranitar did not give an immediate answer. Instead, he looked over at Ash, who was sitting with Delia, Professor Oak, Pikachu, and Tracey. [He's not cut out for what you do,] Tyranitar eventually answered. [He's too soft. He wouldn't even fight you directly. You had to make two glaring, even intentional, mistakes for him to pull off the win.] He then focused his gaze on her. [He hasn't lived your life. He hasn't had the hardships you have. In addition, he makes stupid mistakes in the name of friendship with his Pokémon. He says that he is their friend, but also unwittingly puts them in danger and is the sole reason for his own downfall in too many of the leagues. He's too naïve; and that is something that his enemies, particularly Team Rocket, will take advantage of when he fights them.]

Mia could not argue against Tyranitar. She knew he was right. This would be a huge change for Ash, one that he might not be able to handle. Before facing him, she had studied him and all of his important battles from the various Pokémon Leagues. She noticed that regardless of who the opponent was, from the greenest of beginners, to the most experienced of Champions, almost all of his victories were close affairs with only one of his Pokémon remaining at the end of the match. While against opponents that were even with him in skill, that might not be unexpected, the troubling thing was that according to her research, almost _all_ of his battles had been like that. And there were a variety of reasons for that; almost none of them being that his strongest team at any given moment was even with his opponent's team in terms of strength and skill. Not only that, but in almost all of the leagues that he had participated in, this flaw in his battling style had eventually cost him his chance at winning said league. And, of course, there was the fact that he had gone from an experienced Trainer, to someone who acted like a newbie when he had gone to the Unova Region. Eventually, she told Tyranitar, "You're right."

[Then why didn't you fight harder? You could have won that fight! You _should_ have won!]

"Maybe," she admitted. "But Ash _did_ also get some lucky breaks as well. As for why I don't feel too bad about Ash winning, well, he's my brother. More than that, though, is the fact that I think that he is finally learning and has gotten out of that newbie phase he enters whenever he tries something new. I also have some suspicions as to why he reset when he went to the Unova Region," she added under her breath, looking away from Tyranitar. She then focused back on him and continued, "Regardless of the past, I think that he has a bright future, and that his success will be necessary for human/Pokémon relations. He's a good Trainer, and also a good person."

[So are you,] Tyranitar responded.

"Thanks," Mia replied, smiling at Tyranitar. "Come on," she offered. "Come join the party. You may make some new friends. I think you'd get along very well with Charizard."

A smile soon crossed Tyranitar's face and he accepted Mia's offer, going over to join the party. Once he was mingling with the Pokémon of Ash and the other guests, Mia looked over at Ash and their mother. She took a deep breath and said under her breath, "I've put this off long enough." She then went over to Ash and Delia so she could introduce herself.

Meanwhile, back in Team Rocket Headquarters, more than one hundred Team Rocket grunts and elite agents assembled in an assembly area that was devoid of any furniture save for a single stage and podium which led to one of the exits. It had gray walls and if it had had a table it would have looked like an interrogation room. And if it had had a bunk along with the table, it would have resembled a large prison cell. The Rocket grunts all gazed at their surroundings and were murmuring to each other, speculating on why they had been gathered in such large numbers. With the exception of Science and R&D workers, almost all of the remaining Rockets that were still stationed at the base had been called to assemble. Two particular Rockets, Butch, a young adult male with green hair and brown eyes, and Cassidy, a young woman with gold hair worn in two long tails and purple eyes, both of whom wore the standard Team Rocket uniform of a black shirt and pants, stood among the crowd waiting for Giovanni to come and tell them why he had assembled practically every Rocket inside the base, save for Science Division.

Their questions would soon be answered as Giovanni came out from the door behind the podium and stood before them. Behind him were Domino and four elite grunts known as the Rocket Brothers, a family of four brothers who were among the strongest grunts in Team Rocket. Giovanni approached the podium and when he arrived, he stood there and motioned for everyone in the area to find a seat. It took only a few moments for the more than one hundred Rocket Grunts to find an empty seat, for the assembly area was able to hold many more. Once they were seated, Giovanni addressed the group, saying, "Members of Team Rocket, you are undoubtedly asking yourselves why you have all been summoned here. I don't think I have to go over what has happened to this organization in the past three years. Many of you are veterans of Team Rocket from before our great falls and have stood by this organization even after it had disbanded twice before. Without you, Team Rocket would be finished. As such, you all must know that an opportunity has now presented itself. We have come into our possession a new Legendary Pokémon, but that is not the important part of the plan for now. Today, our goal is to cripple the Pokémon League and deal with the greatest threat to Team Rocket that we have ever faced. We know where several of the Elite Four members and even a couple Champions are and will destroy them. In addition, we are also preparing a concurrent assault on the Kanto Gym Leaders, since they are going to be the most likely source of resistance to us. Some may be willing to join us, though, and we will be taking that into account when dealing with them. For those that don't join, though, it will be to their sorrow.

"Last, but not least, I will need Rocket Grunts Zero-Zero-One through Zero-Thirty to remain behind as soon as the rest of you leave for your respective assignments. Butch and Cassidy are also to remain behind with Grunts Zero-Zero-One through Zero-Thirty. As for the rest of you, you will all be divided up into teams of ten and be sent out to rendezvous with other Team Rocket agents in all of the towns and cities that house Kanto Pokémon League Gyms deal with their Gym Leaders." It was then that one of the grunts raised his hand. "Yes, what is it?"

"Sir, I was merely wondering why we are only going after the Kanto Gym Leaders and not the Johto, Hoenn, or Sinnoh Gym Leaders since they would also be a hindrance to our plans."

"A legitimate question," Giovanni responded thoughtfully. "The reason we aren't going after any of the other Japanese Regional Gym Leaders is because we simply don't have the necessary forces to do so at the moment. Many Rockets were arrested after each time Team Rocket disbanded officially, with more deciding simply not to return once we re-formed. We are sending in overwhelming force to deal with the Elite Four, Champions, and the Kanto Gym Leaders so that we can score a quick decapitation strike now. Yes, there will be other Champions and Gym Leaders to pick up the pieces, but they should be in relative disarray after the Kanto Gym Leaders fall, especially the Johto Gym Leaders. This is but the first step on the road to our victory. But this step will be crucial. The Kanto Gym Leader threat must be neutralized, one way or the other. You have your assignments. The specifics will be given by your team commanders once you meet up with them at your various destinations. You should each be receiving your duty assignments on your datapads."

Each Rocket then got out his or her datapad and saw the orders flash up, as well as the identity of their team commanders. The Rockets studied their assignments and committed them to memory. Giovanni's voice then boomed, "Lastly, you each will receive a Pokémon that knows Teleport, so that you can get to your targets as quickly as possible. We already have forces on the ground in each of the Legendaries that we are targeting. There you will stay until you receive a Master Ball." The Rocket Brothers and Domino then gave each of the Rocket grunts a Poké Ball with a Pokémon that knew Teleport, usually a Pokémon of the Abra line, but sometimes, a Natu or a Xatu, two Psychic/Flying type Pokémon that looked like birds with large green heads. Once the Rockets had received their Pokémon, Giovanni bellowed, "You have your orders, carry them out!"

"Yes sir," the Rocket grunts all replied in unison. With that, the Rocket grunts then broke off into their respective teams, filed out of the assembly area. Once they were outside of the base, they released their Pokémon from their Poké Balls and had them teleport them to their destinations.

Back inside the base, Giovanni looked out over the thirty Rocket grunts that remained. "You all are probably wondering why you are still here," he told them. "The answer is because you all have been chosen for the most important part of this mission. Not too far away from here, on the Indigo Plateau, is a hotel where the new World Pokémon League Champion's birthday is being celebrated. As it turns out, I have received information that Leaf, the former Champion, and Pokémon Trainer that has been such a large thorn in our side and has been the reason we have been as greatly weakened as we are, is also with him, as are the Johto League Champion Lance, and the Sinnoh League Champion Cynthia. You all are going to be serving under Domino, with Butch and Cassidy serving as her lieutenants. You are take out Lance, Cynthia, this new Champion, Ash, as well as any other Trainers you come across if you can, but your primary objective is to eliminate Leaf's threat, permanently."

"Ash?" Cassidy blurted, recognizing the name from several encounters that she had with him from before. "Do you mean Ash Ketchum?"

"I didn't catch his last name, but he had black hair and hazel eyes. He's participated in numerous leagues, as well," Giovanni answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Because we've encountered him before," Butch answered. "He's a skilled Trainer, but nowhere close to Leaf's level. At least he wasn't the last time we fought him," he added.

"Will facing him be a problem for you?" Giovanni asked in a tone that seemed to not know whether to be mocking or serious.

Both Rockets grinned. "Not at all," they both responded in unison.

Another Rocket then raised his hand. "By eliminate, do you mean kill?" he asked.

Giovanni gave a sinister grin. "Yes," he answered coldly. "As I said before, eliminate them, especially Leaf! Kill her! Anyone else you encounter is up to your own discretion."

The Rockets grinned as they received their orders. Domino then went down to the rest of the Rockets and relayed the information about where the Champions and Leaf were. As she was going over the specifics and the strategy, he muttered coldly, "Don't disappoint me. I've been waiting a long time to get revenge on her for my three defeats." With that, he withdrew from the assembly area and returned to his office. He had to make sure that even if things went wrong, that he would still have the possibility of accomplishing his objectives, for even with Leaf gone, he knew that there may still be other enemies that he would have to deal with before the end.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Inside the Pewter City Gym, Brock the oldest of nine siblings was tending to his Pokémon as they finished a training regimen. This was the first day he had come home to visit his family and tend to the gym since he had become a Pokémon Doctor. He was about eighteen years old and had tanned skin, spiky brown hair and black eyes that were almost always squinting. He wore a green short-sleeved shirt under an orange vest with some gray, and khaki pants. His family was away for the time being and was not scheduled to return for a few more hours. This would give him a good chance to look at each and every one of his Pokémon, as well as examine the gym to see how his family was doing with it. The Pokémon that were out and about the gym consisted of a Golem, a boulder-like Pokémon whose head protruded from the center of the rocky shell, that also had two arms with three claws on each hand, and two legs; Steelix, a large and long segmented silvery snake-like Pokémon; Crobat, a purple bat-like Pokémon with four wings; Forretress, a round cocoon-like Pokémon with pinkish plates situated on the top and bottom of its red body. The main body also had several protrusions that looked like cannons, almost as if the Pokémon, itself, was a miniature fortress. His other Pokémon included a Ludicolo, a Pokémon that looked like a mixture between a platypus and a pineapple with a green head, as well as arms and legs, and a yellow body, with a sombrero-like covering on its head; a Swampert, a blue quadruped Pokémon with three-fingered open palms, a wide mouth, orange gills protruding from its cheeks, and a large black tail fin; Sudowoodo, a log-shaped Pokémon with two short legs and two thin arms with green hands shaped like the suite of cards clubs; Toxicroak, a humanoid Pokémon that resembled a blue poison dart frog with a bulbous red vocal sack; and finally, a Chansey.

The Pokémon had been training in the gym while Brock had been watching Ash's battle with Mia on the television and had been rooting for Ash during the entire battle. He had been concerned for Ash's chances at various times and had been legitimately surprised when Ash had managed to eek out a tie with Leaf if the Pokémon Battle, forcing a physical fight. He had grown even more concerned as Leaf had been pummeling him for most of the fight and had been relieved when Ash had finally managed to pin her. He was relieved when Ash finally won the battle. Once he was finished watching the battle, he went out to check on the Pokémon, unaware of the threat that was gathering outside of the gym.

Outside the gym, a Team Rocket force had assembled to find Brock and either convince him to join Team Rocket or kill him should he refuse. The force consisted of four Rocket Grunts led by one Rocket Agent. The Agent was practically indistinguishable from the other Rockets at first glance, though, and it was better that way for all involved, for they did not want to be identified by law enforcement. Despite the fact that it was midday and there were bystanders pretty close to gym, no one seemed all that concerned about seeing an assault force consisting of members of a criminal organization about to raid one of the Kanto Pokémon League gyms. The Rocket Agent quickly pulled out a Poké Ball and opened it. Out came a Kadabra, who then turned to its Trainer and awaited his command. "Kadabra, scan the interior of the base and see if Brock is here."

"Kadabra," the Pokémon replied, nodding. Its eyes glowed a soft blue as it swept its gaze throughout the gym. After a few seconds, the glow died and the Psychic-type Pokémon's eyes returned to normal. It nodded, confirming that Brock was at the gym.

"How many Trainers are with him? Does he have any Pokémon besides his Golem and Steelix?"

Kadabra shook its head once, indicating that there were no other Trainers present, and then nodded, indicating that he had more Pokémon than initial intelligence reports had indicated. "So, how do you wanna do this?" one of the grunts asked.

"Stay here," the Agent directed. "I'll go in and try to convince him to join up voluntarily. If he does, I'll give the all clear. If he doesn't, I'll give code phrase 'how unfortunate' to tell you guys to come in, ready for battle."

Before the Rocket Agent entered the gym, the grunts released their Pokémon from their Poké Balls. Most of the Pokémon were Zubats and Golbats, bat-like Pokémon, with Zubat having no eyes and being small, while Golbat had a large head and mouth, which consisted of most of its body. A few had a round, Koffings with one having a Weezing. The agent was not all that thrilled about the group of Pokémon his forces had, for he knew firsthand that Poison-type Pokémon were quite vulnerable to Ground-type Pokémon. To make matters worse, Brock had a Steelix at the gym, which was immune to Poison-type attacks. And Pewter City Gym was primarily a Rock and Ground-type gym. Once the Rockets had let out their Pokémon, the Agent headed inside.

Inside the gym, the Agent saw Brock and his assortment of Pokémon spread throughout the floor. The Agent quickly gazed around the gym, mentally noting the number of Pokémon, along with the type that was present. The presence of Forretress caught him off guard and was growing more and more concerned that this attack, should Brock refuse to join Team Rocket, which the agent believed would be the case, considering his previous enmity with the organization, was doomed to end in failure. Still, he had to put on a good show, and to that end, he gave a slight chuckle. The soft chuckle, though, was enough to alert Brock and his Pokémon to the fact that someone had come into the gym. They immediately stopped and looked towards the entrance, seeing the Rocket Agent standing in the shadow of the door. He saw the Rocket uniform worn by the agent and scowled. "The gym is not open for battles right now so I'm not able to take any challenges right now," Brock informed him courteously. He then focused on the Rocket and his expression darkened. "But by your uniform, I take it that you aren't here for a gym battle."

"Not if I can help it," the Rocket Agent replied casually. The Agent then took a few steps forward, holding up his hands to show Brock that he was not armed and that he was not holding any Poké Balls. "I have a proposition for you."

"What is it?" Brock asked skeptically, his previous encounters with Team Rocket coming to the forefront of his memory.

"Join Team Rocket. With your power, both yours and your Pokémon's, Team Rocket would become even stronger. Not only that, but you're a Gym Leader and we have need of people like you in our organization."

"You mean you'd finally have some power back and a voice in the Pokémon League," Brock retorted. "I know that you're on your last legs. Leaf did a number on you. Ethan did, too. And you didn't do much better against Ash and his friends, with whom I traveled for a couple of years."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," the agent countered with a dark smile. "We still have some bite left." He gave a pause so Brock could think over the proposition. After a few seconds, the agent said, "The offer's only good for a limited time, though. What's your answer? Will you join us?"

"I'll never join Team Rocket!" Brock declared.

The Rocket Agent shrugged. "How unfortunate," he sighed, giving the signal for the rest of the Rockets to attack. They came charging through the door, their Pokémon already deployed and their guns drawn. Their Pokémon were soon to follow. "You'll join us or die!"

Brock was surprised to see that Team Rocket had gotten smart and started to use guns as well as Pokémon. During his travels, he had noted that most villainous teams that utilized Pokémon never used more conventional weapons, always relying on Pokémon. Still, this new development did not disturb him. They drastically underestimated him and his Pokémon. Before they could fire a single shot, Golem stomped the ground and unleashed a massive Earthquake upon the grunts. The grunts and agent struggled to maintain their footing and fell to the floor, almost reflexively firing their guns as they fell. The shots went wide of Brock and Golem, with the rear grunts hitting the two forward grunts, and causing the agent to dive behind the stunned grunts in front for cover.

Brock then called out to Swampert, "Swampert, you get in front and use Surf!"

Swampert obeyed and stepped out in front of Brock's Pokémon. The Pokémon then unleashed a torrent of water that crashed down upon the Rockets and their Pokémon, forcing them back towards the gym's exit. Their Pokémon were not very strong and took a great deal of damage from the attack. Brock wanted to make sure that they were beaten, though, so he told Steelix and Golem, "Steelix, Golem, use Stone Edge to finish off the Rockets and their Pokémon!"

The two Pokémon complied and rings of stones surrounded the two Pokémon. After a second, they fired the stones at the waterlogged Rocket Pokémon, grunts, and agent. The stones scored direct hits on the Pokémon, taking them out of the fight. Some even scored hits on the Rocket grunts and the agent, knocking them unconscious at the very least. Police sirens could be heard off in the distance but by the time the police had arrived to investigate, the battle was already over. Brock and his Pokémon stood overlooking the fallen Rockets and their Pokémon. The police then took down Brock's report and took the Rockets, those that were still alive, and their Pokémon into custody.

Over in Cerulean City, Misty stood inside the Cerulean City Gym not too far away from the pool. The gym was basically a large aquarium with a large pool situated in the center. The aquarium had a several Pokémon swimming around in it, but the Gym Trainers and Gym Leaders would also swim in the pool when they were present in the gym. As it was, though, Misty was the only one attending to the gym today. She was Ash's age and had orange hair that did not quite reach down to her shoulders. Today was a rare day when she wore it down rather than have it in a side ponytail. She wore a yellow sleeveless shirt over a red sleeveless undershirt with short yellow shorts. Her sisters were away and had taken some of the gym's Pokémon with them, leaving only Misty's own Pokémon to safeguard the gym and accept any challengers. They consisted of Goldeen a fantail-like Pokémon, Staryu, a brown star-shaped Pokémon; Starmie, Kingdra, a blue seahorse-like Pokémon with tan belly scales; Psyduck, a rotund yellow bipedal duck-like Pokémon; Politoed, a green frog-like Pokémon with yellow hands, toes, throat, and belly; Corsola, a small round pink Pokémon with a white underbelly with four stubby legs, pink stubby arms, and several branch-like growths extending from its back; Gyarados, a blue and white serpentine Pokémon that resembled a large sea serpent; a Luvdisc named Caserin, which was a small pink heart shaped Pokémon; Azurill, a small, blue, rotund mouse-like Pokémon with a floatation ball for a tail; and Dewgong, a white seal-like Pokémon with a single small horn on its head. All of the Pokémon were swimming about the pool as Misty looked on, preparing to change so she could join them in the pool. Her plans, though, were cut short as she heard an explosion from outside as the door to the gym was blown open, shrapnel flying from the entrance.

Jumping up at the sound, she turned to face the entrance to the gym and saw no less than six Team Rocket grunts, along with a Team Rocket agent, standing in the doorway. The agent stepped forward and proclaimed, "Misty Waterflower, Gym Leader of Cerulean City Gym, you've got a choice. You can either do this the easy way, or the hard way." Looking at the Rocket grunts, he nodded, motioning for them to draw their Poké Balls. The Poké Balls opened and out came a group of Koffings and a Weezing. The Rockets also drew several futuristic looking guns from their holsters, something that surprised Misty since she had never seen them use guns of any kind before, especially energy weapons.

Misty glanced down to her Pokémon and then back at the Rockets and demanded, "What do you want?"

"For you to surrender yourself and your Pokémon to Team Rocket. Join us," the agent offered. "If you do so, you'll become rich beyond your wildest dreams of avarice."

"No," the Cerulean City Gym Leader retorted curtly.

"Your loss," the Rocket shrugged, raising his hands. Turning to the Rockets and their Pokémon, he cried, "Let her have it!"

Misty had other ideas as she called to her Pokémon, "Everyone, use Surf on Team Rocket and send them out of the gym!"

The Pokémon obeyed and a large number of waves were formed by each of the Water-type Pokémon. The waves of water condensed into a single massive tidal wave that was launched at the Rockets. The Rockets' eyes went wide with shock as they saw the torrent of water headed straight for them. They turned to flee the oncoming tidal wave, but were too slow and the wave crashed down on the Rockets and their Pokémon. The flood quickly carried the Rockets out of the gym and deposited them in the streets once the water eventually dispersed enough so that the Rockets were no longer dragged along the current. That did two Rockets little good as they were deposited into the middle of the road, and into the path of a truck, which was unable to swerve out of the way and avoid hitting them. The rest of the waterlogged Rockets and their Pokémon were deposited along the street and the sidewalk around the gym, left to fend for themselves as a series of sirens came, a clear sign that the police were coming. The Rockets that had not met an unfortunate end facing down a truck, or had been crushed in initial crash of the tidal wave, were apprehended by police along with their Pokémon.

Meanwhile, over in Saffron City, the largest city in the Kanto Region, Sabrina stood inside the Saffron City Gym with her Alakazam. She was about twenty-four years old, had black hair that went down to slightly below her shoulders, and red eyes. Unlike her usual attire, today she was dressed in a pink sleeveless shirt and white pants. Standing next to her and Alakazam were an Abra, a Pokémon that loosely resembled a bipedal fox with brown leather-like armor, and a Kadabra, which was Abra's second stage evolution. All four were preparing for battle, for they all had experienced a dream the night before of an attack on the gym, and they also sensed the malevolent intent of the Team Rocket force that was assembling outside of the gym.

Sure enough, outside the gym, a force of a dozen Rocket Grunts, and a Rocket Agent, had assembled. Assisted by a Kadabra, the Rocket grunts and agent knew that the usual Poison and Fighting-type Pokémon that they often used would be slaughtered by Sabrina, so they decided to take along some Cubones, small dark orange to almost brown bipedal Pokémon with tan underbellies that wear skulls over their heads and carry bones in their hands; Marowaks, evolutions of Cubones that generally look like a larger Cubone, only with a scaled underbelly and a spike on its tail; a few Drowzees, bipedal tapir-like Pokémon with a trunks above their mouth, yellow upper halves and brown lower halves; and a couple of Hypnos, evolutions of Drowzee that looked more human-like than their first stage evolutions, had a white collar, feline-like ears, and a pendulum in their hands. They knew that mind-controlling Sabrina would be more difficult than any of the other Gym Leaders and were very willing to use deadly force against her if she could not be controlled or convinced to join Team Rocket voluntarily. The Pokémon scanned the interior of the gym and found that only Sabrina and her three Psychic Pokémon were in the gym. They telepathically relayed the information to their Trainer, the Rocket agent, who gave a curt nod to them in return. "Okay guys," he began, "it looks like there's only Sabrina and a few Psychic-type Pokémon inside the gym with her. Here's the plan should she not join us: the Drowzees and Hypnos are going to telepathically assault her, to keep her from fighting and hopefully take full control of her mind, while the rest of you send your Cubones and Marowaks to deal with her Pokémon. While they're fighting and Sabrina's distracted, you take care of her."

"Got it," the Rocket grunts replied. The Rockets then followed their leader into the gym as the assault on the Saffron Gym began. Little did they know, though, that Sabrina had already sensed their arrival, and was well aware of their plan.

The Saffron City Gym Leader soon stood and waited patiently for the arrival of the Team Rocket force. For a split second, she felt that something else was happening with the other Gym Leaders but she quickly put the thought out of her mind. She needed to concentrate on what was happening right here and now. Otherwise, Team Rocket might actually succeed in controlling or killing her.

Sure enough, the Team Rocket force appeared directly in front of her on the warp tile that was situated at the end of her room. Sabrina's Kadabra and Alakazam prepared to launch an attack, but Sabrina telepathically told them to stop and let the Rockets speak. She knew that the Drowzees and Hypnos that had appeared were already trying to assault her mind. They were failing miserably, but the psychic woman's expression did not change at all. The Team Rocket agent gave a chuckle as he saw the young woman standing before him. "Looks like you're a little lax with security," he noted flatly.

"I know why you're here, and the answer is no," she told him, not letting him know that she knew his exact plan of attack. "You should leave. Now."

"But you haven't heard my offer," the Rocket agent countered.

"I don't have to," came Sabrina's response. "You want me to join Team Rocket and assist you in your plan to take over the world. If I refuse, you're going to try to kill me.

"That about covers it, yep," the agent said nonchalantly. "The only modification I'd make is about that 'try' part when it comes to killing you. Still, before we go all kill crazy on each other, you should know that Rocket agents are very well paid and receive good benefits, too. You'd make far more as a Rocket than as a mid-tier Gym Leader, especially given your true power and skill. Not only that, but you'd also gain more political power as well. You'd be a part of the force that would rule the world."

"Not interested," she replied flatly. "Leave," she commanded harshly, glaring at him.

"Not an option," the Rocket agent retorted. "This is your last chance, babe. The offer's good for ten seconds only. Join us and be a part of the new rulers of the world, or die. If you join, you'd be a high-ranking member since you're already a powerful Gym Leader," he offered, trying to make the position sound as enticing as possible.

"Maybe in another time, another place, another life, I would either have accepted your offer or have already been a part of Team Rocket," Sabrina began. "However, in this time, this place, this life, I am not a monster, not anymore. I refuse."

"A pity," the Rocket Agent almost lamented. "Oh well." He then pointed at Sabrina and snapped his fingers. The Rockets and Pokémon knew that that was the signal to attack.

The Cubones and Marowaks immediately went to throw their bone clubs at Sabrina, but they found themselves frozen in place, as did the Rockets. "Now I have an offer for you," Sabrina told the Rockets in a calm, cold voice. "Leave, and you won't be reduced to my playthings. If you remain and continue this attack, I'll have some new action figures and dolls to add to my collection. The only difference is that I'll use you for things like target practice." She gave a cold smile after uttering that last warning.

Team Rocket did not listen, though, and they attempted to pull their guns on her and yelled to their Pokémon, "Attack!" Sabrina gave a sigh and her eyes began to glow a deep red. A red aura surrounded the Rockets and they were lifted into the air. The Rockets' Pokémon that were foolish enough to attack were quickly shoved into the wall by the psychic abilities of Sabrina's Abra, Kadabra, and Alakazam. They collided with the wall, cracking it, and slid to the floor, unconscious. Without a word, she focused on the Rockets and they began to shrink in size until they were no larger than action figures. Their skin and clothing then transformed into plastic and the field of energy that surrounded them disappeared. The new Rocket action figures then fell to the floor. Sabrina's Pokémon then let loose with a series of Shadow Balls into the Rocket action figures, annihilating them.

Once the Rockets had been dealt with, Sabrina focused on their Pokémon, those of which had been shoved into the wall, were beginning to regain consciousness. "I'm giving the rest of you a choice," she told them. "Your Trainers used you for evil purposes; which is why you are getting this choice, rather than being turned into dolls or other items and put in the fireplace. You can abandon Team Rocket and live on in the wild, making a good life for yourselves; or you could try to complete the mission your Trainers gave you and attack us. Be warned, though, that we will defend ourselves with deadly force."

Two Cubones, a Marowak, and a Drowzee quickly decided that they would complete the mission given to them by Team Rocket, despite Sabrina's warning, and charged towards her. Before they could begin their attack, though, Sabrina read their minds and found that they were loyal to Team Rocket, despite the fact that they knew of the evil that their Trainers perpetrated. Again, a red aura surrounded them and they were quickly transformed into dolls. Sabrina wasted no time playing with them, though, and they promptly burst into flames. "That's the price for evil," she said coldly to the others. "But my offer is still on the table for the rest of you. Reject the evil of Team Rocket and live peaceful lives, or die. Choose."

As if there was any choice, the rest of the Pokémon choose to live. Scanning their minds, she could tell that most of them were never really loyal to Team Rocket to begin with and were merely scared of what their Trainers and their loyal Pokémon would do if they disobeyed. Some, however, were being controlled by an outside force. However, a couple had initially been loyal to Team Rocket, renouncing their mission only when she dealt with the others and she warned them, "To those who chose to live out of fear, know that if you try anything, many others in the world will deal with you. And you won't get any second chances from them."

All of the Pokémon nodded and her eyes glowed once more as she teleported the various Pokémon into nearby forests and caves so that they could begin their new lives. Once the one-sided "battle" was over, she told her Pokémon, "We have to alert the others. Something big is happening and we have to warn the other Gym Leaders that Team Rocket may be after them too."

Her Pokémon nodded and stood guard over the gym as Sabrina went to a phone to contact the other Gym Leaders as to the attack on her gym by Team Rocket.

All around the Kanto Region of Japan, Team Rocket was making their move to attack the various gyms under the control of the Pokémon League. So far, the attacks on Celadon Gym, Fuchsia Gym, Cinnabar Gym, and Vermillion Gym, had gone off as planned, albeit with noticeable, but still acceptable, losses, as of yet. Still, none of the Gym Leaders had been killed or had even lost a Pokémon yet, but there was still a lot of fighting to be done and the battles in the Celadon Gym and in the Fuchsia Gym were still relatively even. The one gym that was doing the best in holding out against the Team Rocket was the Viridian City Gym, under the command of Gary Oak, Professor Oak's grandson and a former Kanto League Champion, though he had been Champion for less than a day before Mia had challenged and defeated him without losing any Pokémon. Gary was Ash's age with brown hair and green eyes. He wore a black short-sleeved shirt and khaki pants. Sabrina had managed to make contact with him and warn him of a potential attack when over a dozen Rocket Grunts and a Rocket Agent had blown the door to the gym wide open with a single punch from a Machamp, a bluish-gray skinned four-armed muscle-bound Pokémon that wore a black legless girdle along with a belt. That Machamp was also the first casualty of the fight as Gary's Blastoise counterattacked, scoring a direct hit with a Hydro Cannon blast, the two streams of water colliding with the muscled Pokémon, sending him flying through the door.

Team Rocket would not be stopped, though, and the grunts, agent, and all of their Pokémon came surging through the door. Pokémon of all sorts from Marowaks to Alakazams to Gengars, bipedal dark purple furred Pokémon with round bodies surged through. The two Gengars that were entering the battle, though, were not fighting all that hard, and once Gary had released the rest of his Pokémon that he had on hand: Electivire, a humanoid Electric-type Pokémon that had yellow fur with black stripes, and two black tails with a red tip on each; Golem, a round rock-like Ground-type Pokémon with a small head, compared to the body, short arms and legs; Umbreon, a Dark-type Pokémon with a sleek body that has yellow rings on its forehead and legs, pointed ears, and red cat-like eyes; Alakazam, and a Rhyperior, a bipedal Rhinoceros-like Pokémon with a round brownish-gray body that had rock plates covering portions of its hide as well as a drill-like horn jutting from its nose and a club-like tail, the two Gengars retreated from the fight without any further incident. Despite having only six Pokémon to counter the small army that Team Rocket was sending against him, he had felt as if he would still be able to hold his own against any attack. However, that supposition was being challenged, now that Alakazam and Golem had been knocked unconscious, and Umbreon was having difficult against a couple of Fearows, Flying-type Pokémon that had long beaks and necks. Gary's other Pokémon were holding their own as well, with almost half of the Team Rocket Pokémon having either been knocked unconscious, along with three Rocket grunts, with one of them suffering fatal injuries, or worse.

The Rocket grunts and agent, however, were not giving up. After a volley of ranged attacks from Gary's Pokémon, the Rockets ordered their forces and Pokémon to regroup and find cover. They knew that despite the fact that half of their Pokémon were down, they still held the advantage over Gary, whose Pokémon were beginning to tire. However, Gary and his Pokémon were not going down without a fight. A Hydro Pump from his Blastoise managed to fell a Magmar, a humanoid Fire-type Pokémon that had a yellow and red flaming body. The Pokémon collided with its Trainer, knocking him to the ground, unconscious. Gary grinned at the sight as he activated the alarm to the Gym.

Klaxons and sirens began to sound and the Team Rocket soldiers knew that they had a limited time to accomplish the operation before the police arrived. Upon hearing the klaxons, one of the Rocket grunts went up to the agent and cried, "Sir, the authorities have been alerted to the attack. The police will be here at any moment. We must retreat!"

"No!" the agent roared. "This mission is too important! We have to take him out, even if it costs us everything!"

"We're no good to the boss dead or captured," another grunt countered. "We've managed to take down a couple of his Pokémon and put a third on the brink, but they're not dead, and we aren't makin' much headway against him, especially with those Gengars not fighting at full power."

"We can't abandon the mission!" the agent contested. "We were given a mission by the boss, and by my salary, I'm gonna accomplish it out no matter what!"

The other Rocket wanted to disagree, but a bolt of lightning from Gary's Electivire ended the conversation prematurely as the Rocket grunt gave a short cry before falling to the ground, his body convulsing and electricity arcing across his form. After a few moments, the Rocket lay still, either unconscious or dead. The fact that his chest was not rising and falling, and his eyes were still open, indicated that the latter was more likely. Two more Rocket Pokémon, a Fearow and a Murkrow, a small bird, relatively speaking, with black feathers, fell amid the battle. It was not long before the Rockets started to hear sirens off in the distance. "Sir, we must retreat!" another Rocket Grunt called to the agent. "The police are almost here."

"Never!" the agent cried. "We're gonna… arrrgh!" he cried as he never got to finish his statement, for a blast of Thunder fried him, electricity arcing across his writhing body before the attack reduced him to dust.

That was the cue for the other Rockets to cut their losses and leave. The surviving grunts quickly fled the gym as the police sirens got louder. When the police entered, Gary told them everything that happened. He soon learned that he and Sabrina had not been the only ones attacked, that all of the Kanto Gym Leaders had suffered attacks from Team Rocket. Still, despite the gyms being able to repulse the attacks, he and the other Leaders remained at their gyms just in case Team Rocket returned with greater numbers.

Meanwhile, in the situation room inside the Rocket base, Giovanni, his secretary, a young woman with dark purple hair that did not quite fall to his shoulders, red eyes, and wearing eye glasses and a uniform that was similar to Giovanni's but with more purple, and the four remaining Team Rocket Executives, watched the assault on the Kanto Gym Leaders unfold. The group stared at a large screen on the wall across from the long table where Giovanni and the others were sitting, his secretary standing behind him. The screen was split into eight smaller screens, one for each team that was attacking the Kanto gyms. Giovanni scowled as the operation got underway, with his forces suffering severe losses, with little to no progress being shown. The screens for the Pewter, Cerulean, and Saffron Gyms were already blank, the entire strike forces having been wiped out or captured very quickly. The strike forces that had attacked the Fuchsia City and Cinnabar Island gyms were also whittled down to only a few personnel and Pokémon, who were barely holding out against the Gym Leaders. Fortunately, they still had their teleporters alive and conscious so they could fall back.

The voices of various Team Rocket members echoed throughout the room as they received live reports and updates from the various team leaders and directed the assaulting forces. Giovanni did not give a scowl, though. He had not expected to be able to take down all of the Gym Leaders, but he had hoped to be able to take down at least some of them. Still, the purpose of the attacks was being fulfilled. With the reports of the attacks on the gyms spreading, the Pokémon League would send official Trainers and other security forces to reinforce the gyms, allowing him to focus on his true objectives. The screen of another Team Rocket force, this one consisting of a few Grunts and a Scientist, flashed on where the now blank screen of the attack on Saffron Gym had once been. There were four Kadabras on the screen. Their eyes flashed a deep blue once and quickly returned to normal. That was the signal. Giovanni then told the Rockets, "Go!"

"Roger that," the Rocket Scientist and the Grunts replied. Giovanni and the others then sat back in their seats and awaited news on the outcome of the real mission.

Back in Saffron City, just outside of the Silph Corporation Building, the three Team Rocket Grunts and Rocket Scientist stood. The four Kadabras stood watch outside of the building, using their psychic abilities to shield themselves and the Rockets from detection by bystanders, Sabrina, and the employees of Silph Corporation. The Kadabras were second stage evolutions of the Abra line, the third being Alakazam. They had a human-like body structure that had a fox-like face with two large ears and tail. The body was gold in color, along with a long golden mustache, but was also partially covered in brown, seemingly leather armor, and one spoon. The Rockets knew that they would not be able to avoid detection indefinitely, but if they could shield themselves for a few minutes, then they would be able to accomplish their objectives and escape without being detected. And if all went well, Silph Corporation would not know that it had been robbed until it was too late.

The Rocket Scientist soon received the "go" order from Giovanni and upon receiving it, he told the others, "Alright everyone, the signal's been given. We've got only a few minutes. Let's go!"

"Right," the Rockets replied.

Turning to the Kadabras, the Scientist told them, "Stay here and continue to shield our presence from our enemies. Once we get what we're looking for and leave, you evacuate as well."

"Kadabra," the Kadabras replied.

The Rocket Scientist then took out a Poké Ball and opened it. Out came a Kadabra, who gave a cry upon being released, and upon touching the ground, turned to face its Trainer. "Take us in," the Rocket ordered.

The Kadabra nodded and the group immediately disappeared from the streets of Saffron City.

The Rockets appeared inside the Silph Corporation Building and they immediately looked around to get their bearings. They first looked up and saw a number of security cameras. Turning to Kadabra, the Rocket Scientist instructed, "Kadabra, disable the security cameras and make sure that they play on an endless loop until we leave."

"Kadabra," the Pokémon replied, nodding affirmatively. Its eyes then glowed and a field of energy surrounded the cameras. The illusion was put in place. The Rockets could now move around the floor without being detected. They could now focus on their mission. Looking at the map that they had downloaded to their datapads, they began to search for the quickest route to the safe that contained the contents that they were searching for. They followed their maps and went down the corridor. The Scientist went ahead of the Grunts in order to make sure that there were no security personnel for the others to worry about. So far, he had found none. "Cost is clear guys. Let's go. Those Kadabras will only be able to shield us for a few more minutes, so we've gotta hurry."

"Right," the Rockets confirmed as they followed the Scientist down the hall. They passed several doors on each side of the corridor as they searched for the vault where the greatest secrets and inventions of the Silph Corporation were stored. They found several terminals on the wall that seemed to lead to areas that contained sensitive data or valuables, but the map that had been downloaded to their pads indicated that the doors led to nowhere in particular. The Kadabra that was with the Scientist also indicated that there was nothing of value behind those doors. As such, the Rockets left them alone and continued their search for the vault.

It did not take them long to reach a large vault that had a lock that looked like the steering wheel of a boat. There was also an electronic keypad on the door as well as a palm print scanner. Next to the vault was a small safe in the wall that had what looked to be a retinal scanner. The Rocket Grunts, believing that the larger vault was the vault that they were looking for, went to try to open it. "No," the Scientist bellowed. "That's not the real vault."

"Whadaya mean?" one of the Grunts asked, confused. "Look at it!"

"I am," the Scientist stated. "It's too obvious." He then directed their attention towards the smaller safe next to the large vault. "While I don't doubt that there are a great deal of valuables inside the large vault, what we're looking for isn't going to be there. It'll be in a less conspicuous storage safe. Look at the small safe next to the vault."

The Rockets did so but they found nothing unusual about it. "Note the retinal scanner that's not present on the larger vault."

The Rockets looked at the scanner, something that they had noticed on their way to the vault, and asked, "So?"

"So, why put a retinal scanner on a small safe, and not on the larger vault? What's so important that they would put one of the most useful and hardest to breach without being detected security systems on a small safe that could only hold a small fraction that the larger vault could hold? What are they hiding in there?"

The Grunts had not thought about it like that, but what the Scientist said did make sense. "So what do we do?" one of the Grunts asked. "None of us are Silph Co. employees. And even if we were, I doubt that anyone except an executive would be allowed in that safe. And if we try to crack through, we'll be discovered and our plans will be exposed."

"This," the Rocket Scientist answered. He pulled out a Poké Ball and tossed it into the air, crying, "Come on out Ditto!"

The Poké Ball opened and out came a blue blob of energy. Once the blob landed on the floor, it congealed and transformed into a light purple to almost pink putty-like blob that seemed like it almost had arms. Taking out a picture of the President of Silph Corporation, the Scientist told Ditto, "Ditto, transform into this man now."

"Ditto," came the high-pitched reply from the Pokémon. Ditto shimmered and then began to change its shape. It grew in size and girth until it resembled a human. Soon, the final features came into being and standing before the Rockets was an exact copy of the President of Silph Corporation.

"Ditto, look into the scanner on the wall next to the large vault," the Scientist commanded.

Ditto complied and went over to the smaller safe on the wall. Quickly finding the retinal scanner, the facsimile of the President of Silph Corporation peered into he scanner. A beam of light struck its eyes and a small chime was heard. A click then sounded, indicating that the safe was now unlocked. "Wow, it worked," one of the Grunts murmured, almost in disbelief.

The Scientist went over to the safe and pulled the door open. "Get the bag," he told the Grunts. A Grunt then brought up a medium-sized storage bag. The Grunts peered into the safe, but all they found was a series of boxes.

"What's inside those boxes?" one of the Grunts asked.

"You'll find out once we get back to base," the Scientist answered. "Just make sure to get all of the boxes in the bag. We'll need all of the contents that we can get."

"Right," the Grunt replied, nodding.

The Grunts then took out all of the boxes and placed them inside the bag. The Scientist then took out a series of boxes from another bag and placed them inside the safe. He wanted to make sure that this deception would not be revealed for a long time, if ever. The last thing they needed was for Silph to realize that it had been robbed. With any luck, though, the ruse should work and Silph would be none the wiser. Seeing that the Rockets' boxes were all placed inside the safe, he closed the door to the safe and it immediately locked. Turning to Ditto, who was still in the form of the President of Silph Corporation, he pulled out his Poké Ball and said, "Ditto, return."

A red beam of energy emerged from the ball and struck the false President of Silph. It turned into a blob of red energy and was then drawn back into the Poké Ball. He then clipped his Poké Ball back to his waist. Turning to Kadabra, he told the psychic Pokémon, "Job's done Kadabra. Take us home."

Kadabra nodded and its eyes flashed as the Team Rocket thieves vanished from the floor leaving no trace of their presence behind. After they had disappeared, the Kadabras surrounding the building also vanished, their mission accomplished.

Back inside Team Rocket Headquarters, Giovanni gave a dark smile. The first of his primary objectives had been accomplished. The Rocket Scientist reappeared in the situation room and walked up to him, saying, "Mission accomplished, Giovanni, sir." He then opened the bag and pulled out the six boxes that he had stolen from Silph Corporation, setting them down on the table. Giovanni went over to the boxes and immediately opened them. Each box contained six purple and white Poké Balls that had an M on them. Giovanni grinned at the sight of the Master Balls. "Thirty-six Master Balls, sir," the Rocket commented, almost as if he were gloating. "That's all of the Master Balls that were stored in the vault. No wonder they had it locked up so tight."

"Phase One is almost complete," Giovanni stated in a satisfied tone. "It's time to begin Phase Two. You may go."

The Rocket Scientist bowed and departed. Turning to one of the Rocket computer technicians, Giovanni commanded, "Tell the capture teams that they are a go."

"Yes, sir," the Rocket replied as the images on the screen disappeared as the Rocket teams were retreating from their attacks on the Kanto League Gyms, only to be replaced by the screens showing various teams of Rocket grunts and agents searching for various Legendary Pokémon. Giovanni could only grin. The time was at hand. Soon, all his previous failures would be nothing more than distant memories: lessons to take to heart so that he would not make the same mistakes again.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Near the Power Plant located on Route Ten south of the Rock Tunnel in Kanto, three Rocket grunts stood close to the building, waiting. Lush tall grass surrounded the building that hid a large number of Pokémon. Had they wished, they could have found a treasure trove of wild Pokémon hiding in the grass. However, they were not interested in mere wild Pokémon. Their only interest was in Zapdos, a large yellow feathered Electric/Flying-type Pokémon and one of the three Legendary Birds. A fourth Rocket grunt quickly appeared next to the others holding a Poké Ball with a purple top and an M on it, signifying that it was a Master Ball. Next to the grunt was an Abra.

"Has the boss given the word?" one of the grunts asked the new arrival.

The newly arrived grunt nodded. "It's a go," he confirmed. "The boss's secretary told us that Giovanni's given us the go, as indicated by the Master Ball I'm holding. We need to hurry, though. The attack on the Kanto Gyms has ended in failure with us taking heavy losses in the process."

"Right," the Rockets replied in unison as they waited for the arrival of Zapdos.

After a few minutes of waiting, the Rockets heard a loud cry in the sky. Looking up, they saw the large form of Zapdos as it circled above the quartet. The Rockets gave satisfied smiles as the Legendary Bird appeared. They quickly deployed their Pokémon, a quartet of Koffings, floating purple heads with faces and a skull and crossbones symbol on front, and ordered, "Koffing, go up there and get Zapdos's attention!"

The Koffings complied with the order and floated up to Zapdos, firing a barrage of Sludge Bombs its way. Zapdos ascended as the balls of sludge approached and the balls sailed underneath the bird. Zapdos retaliated with a blast of Discharge. A series of lightning bolts erupted from Zapdos's feathers and lashed out at the four Koffings. Each bolt struck the Koffings and electricity arced across their bodies. The Koffings were taken down with a single hit and the floated back to the ground, unconscious. Fortunately, though, none of them exploded. As Zapdos went to rise back into the air, though, a shimmering blue field of energy surrounded it and confined it. Looking to their right, the Rockets found that Abra had subdued the Pokémon and it was now immobile. The Rocket grunt with the Master Ball looked down at Abra and said, "Good work Abra. Now, keep him immobile while I capture him."

Abra nodded as the Rocket drew out the Master Ball, stepping forward and pushing the center button on the ball. The ball expanded in size until it was slightly larger than a baseball. The Rocket then tossed it up to Zapdos but much to his surprise, Zapdos overpowered the psychic energy field that Abra was using to contain the Legendary Bird and it fired off a blast of lightning at the Master Ball. The lightning bolt struck the Master Ball and drilled a hole through its center, shattering the ball. The bolt of lightning continued on, striking the Rocket that threw it in the chest, drilling a hole into the Rocket's chest as electricity arced across his body. The Rocket fell over onto his back as the other Rockets' eyes went wide. A blast of Thunder later, the Abra joined the Koffings in unconsciousness. The other three Rockets were not so lucky. Not having the durability of a Pokémon, they were fatally injured when Zapdos unleashed its Discharge upon them and they fell to the ground, electricity arcing across their bodies. Once the battle was over, the Legendary Bird flew away from the Power Plant, deciding to rest in an area that was not patrolled by Team Rocket.

Meanwhile, over on the Seafoam Islands, another quartet of Rocket grunts was having just as hard a time with Articuno, a large blue Ice/Flying Pokémon, and second of the Legendary Birds. A beam of ice erupted from Articuno's beak and froze a Rocket in a block of ice, along with his Kadabra, while a second Rocket tossed a Master Ball up to Articuno in an attempt to capture it. Articuno turned and fired a second Ice Beam at the Master Ball, encasing it in ice. The ball fell out of the air and struck the ground, where it shattered into a thousand pieces. Articuno, knowing of Team Rocket's evil, used Sheer Cold on the grunts. A light blue outline appeared over its body and then the Legendary Bird unleashed a wave of blue energy upon the Rockets. Upon striking the Rockets, the wave froze them solid. Flapping its wings, it used Gust to blow over the new ice sculptures, causing them to shatter upon striking the ground. With that battle over, Articuno went back into the island caves to roost.

Over on Mount Silver in eastern Johto, just west of Kanto, six Rocket grunts were faring even worse against Moltres, a large bird with a yellow orange body with a fiery tail, plumage, and wings, retreated a few feet away from the Rockets as the lead Rocket, an Agent, tossed a Master Ball its way. Moltres countered with Heat Wave. A wave of fire erupted from its beak and struck the Master Ball mid-flight. The flames melted the Master Ball and continued down towards the Rockets unabated. The Rockets tried to turn and flee but were unable to escape the flames as they scored direct hits on the Rockets, igniting them. The Rockets did not have time to scream as they were instantly reduced to ashes. With the Rockets defeated, Moltres moved to an adjacent cavern where it could rest and relax without any interruption.

Meanwhile, over at Lake Valor in the Sinnoh Region, three members of Team Rocket along with their Pokémon, Kadabra, Honchkrow, a large crow-like Pokémon with dark blue feathers with partially red undersides, and a crest of white feathers on its chest, and a Skarmory, made their way into Valor Cavern. Once inside, they searched for their quarry, quickly spotting Azelf, a fairy-like Pokémon with a grayish-blue body with a blue face with a red jewel in the middle of its head along with two tails that each had a small red jewel on them as well, in the middle of the cavern. As soon as Azelf saw the Rockets, it felt the malice in their hearts and unleashed a Confusion attack on Team Rocket and their Pokémon. Purple waves of psychic energy lashed out at the humans and Pokémon and the Rockets were sent flying. They landed a few feet away and got up to continue the fight. One of the Rockets, however, was confused and drew his side arm, a freeze gun, and shot his partner. A wall of ice expanded over the Rocket grunt, encasing him in ice and turning him into an ice statue. The other Rocket, who had maintained his senses, quickly turned on the confused Rocket and, drawing his lightning fired on the confused Rocket. The lightning bolt drilled through the confused Rocket's abdomen and electricity arced across his body as he fell to the ground either unconscious or dead.

Meanwhile, the three Pokémon had suffered only minimal damage, with Kadabra being Psychic-type and Skarmory being part Steel-type. Honchkrow, however, suffered no damage at all, due to being part Dark-type and quickly retaliated with Confuse Ray. Six golden orbs of light appeared around Honchkrow and orbited its body. It then propelled the lights towards Azelf before it could recover and use another move to escape the Rockets. The lights made contact with Azelf and its eyes began to wander as it fired off a Future Sight attack on the frozen Rocket grunt. The remaining Rocket grunt quickly commanded Honchkrow, "Use Mean Look to keep it from escaping!"

Honchkrow obeyed and it glared at Azelf, an outline of its eyes appearing in Azelf's mind. Azelf attempted to teleport out of the cavern but found itself unable to do so. The surviving Rocket grunt took out his Master Ball and pushed its center button, causing it to expand to full size. He tossed the Master Ball at Azelf, who attempted to use Confusion to toss the ball away, but its Confusion prevented it from focusing on the ball. The ball hit Azelf in the head and opened, transforming the Pokémon into a blob of red energy, which was then drawn into the ball. The Master Ball closed and fell back to the ground. There it wobbled as the Pokémon attempted to escape, which would be impossible for the Pokémon due to the strength of the Master Ball. After the third wobble, the light on the center button flashed and a series of sparkles was emitted from the ball. The Rocket grunt approached the ball just as Azelf's Future Sight energy blast appeared from the sky and rained down on the frozen Rocket, shattering him. The surviving grunt picked up the ball and looked back at his two companions, scoffing with contempt as he walked away, unconcerned about their fates. He went over to Kadabra and told it, "Take us back to base."

"Kadabra," the Pokémon said, nodding. Its eyes flashed as it, the Rocket grunt, and both Skarmory and Honchkrow disappeared from the cavern.

The capture of Uxie, a fairy-like Pokémon with a gray body, two tails with red jewels on them, and a partially yellow head with a red jewel in the middle, was a little easier, and less costly, than the capture of Azelf. The trio of Rockets had entered Acuity Cavern in the middle of Lake Acuity with their Pokémon Abra, Carnivine, Aggron, and Shedinja, already deployed and did not give Uxie a chance to fight, or flee, initiating the attack by having Carnivine launch a cloud of Sleep Powder on Uxie. Uxie, caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the Rockets and their Pokémon, unleashed an Extrasensory attack on the lead Rocket grunt, a yellow spiral beam of energy erupted from Uxie's forehead and struck the lead Rocket grunt in the chest. The beam sent the Rocket flying backwards and towards the entrance to the cave. Eventually, he landed on the ground, where he remained still, either unconscious or dead. However, just as Uxie had unleashed his attack on the grunt, the cloud of Sleep Powder floated on him and it breathed in the cloud. The bluish powder was sufficient to put the Pokémon to sleep and it closed its eyes and floated softly to the ground fast asleep. Wasting no time, the lead grunt pulled out a Master Ball and tossed it at the sleeping Pokémon. It struck the creature and opened just after it struck the Pokémon. The Pokémon was converted into red energy and was drawn into the ball. Once it was inside the ball, the ball closed and landed on the ground. It wobbled for a few seconds before a chime sounded, a light flashed and a series of sparkles were emitted from the ball. The surviving Rocket grunts grinned.

The second grunt of the trio went over to the ball and stooped over to pick it up. He got out a Pokédex and scanned the ball, wanting to get a reading on the Pokémon and its power. He had heard that Pokémon oftentimes lost power when caught inside of Poké Balls. The scans came back and indicated that Uxie was just as powerful as they had believed, as well as it still being asleep. The grunt turned to his companion and said, "Job's done. Let's get out of here."

The other grunt nodded as they both called back their Pokémon, save for Abra. They went over to their fallen companion and picked up his Poké Ball. Calling back his Pokémon, they told Abra, "Okay Abra, take us back to base."

Abra gave a nod as its eyes glowed and the Rockets disappeared, leaving the cave deserted save for the fallen Rocket.

Meanwhile, over in Verity Cavern over in Lake Verity, the Rocket grunts that were tasked with capturing Mesprit, were very cautious about how they went about capturing the small gray fairy-like Pokémon with two tails with small red jewels encrusted on them. In addition, it had a pink face with four long drooping appendages, which seemed to count for its ears, and a red jewel on its forehead. The three Rocket grunts, knowing Mesprit's propensity for fleeing immediately upon sighting any Pokémon Trainer had entered the cavern under invisibility cloaking devices, being very careful to not make a sound, for fear of alerting the Pokémon to their presence. The lead grunt fished into his pocket and pulled out his Master Ball, wanting to make the capture as quickly as possible. As long as Mesprit was inside the Master Ball, it was under Team Rocket's control.

The trio continued to near Mesprit's position, not revealing any Pokémon, knowing that it would alert Mesprit to their presence and cause it to flee. They were soon within only a few feet of the Pokémon. The leader of the grunts waited for the Pokémon to turn away so that he could capture it without risking it fleeing. There, he waited patiently for several minutes until Mesprit decided to take a look at its surroundings. As soon as its head was turned, the cloak dropped and the Rocket tossed his Master Ball at the Psychic Pokémon. The ball made contact and opened, converting Mesprit to energy and drawing it into the ball. Once Mesprit was successfully drawn into the ball, it landed on the ground and wobbled around for several seconds until a chime sounded, a light flashed, and silver sparkles were released from the central button of the ball. The grunts' leader went over and picked up the ball, grinning. "Mission accomplished men," he told them. "Let's get back to base."

With that, the Rockets turned and exited the cave, making sure to arrive at the entrance where an Alakazam was waiting for them. Once they made it to Alakazam, the group teleported back to Team Rocket Headquarters to report their mission's success.

Back at Team Rocket Headquarters, Giovanni sat in his office, reading the various reports that were coming in from his field teams. He had grimaced at the fact that his attempts to capture the Legendary Birds had failed as miserably as it had, but had been more relieved to find that the capture of the Lake Trio from the Sinnoh Region had been successful. Now he activated his computer and looked at various video feeds of his grunts going after several more Pokémon. So far, three teams were engaging the Legendary Beasts of Johto. These beasts all resembled crosses between felines and canines, with Entei, the Fire-type beast that had brown fur with a gray cape-like piece of fur running down its back. Gray plates surrounded the cape and jutted out almost as if it was smoke rising from the body. Next was the Electric-type beast, Raikou. Raikou had yellow fur and was tiger-like in appearance. It also had black stripes reminiscent of lightning bolts, a white underside, and a gray tail that resembled a lightning bolt. The last of the Legendary Beasts was Suicune, a blue mammal-like Pokémon with a white underside and white diamond-shaped spots on its body. It also had a purple mane that was reminiscent of a flowing river and two streamer-like tails.

Watching the teams go after these Pokémon, he winced as Entei unleashed a Fire Blast upon one Rocket, incinerating the hapless grunt, while another tossed a Master Ball its way. The ball made contact and opened, converting the Legendary Beast into energy and drawing it into the ball. Giovanni grinned as he watched the ball wobble a few times before locking and capturing the Pokémon. Once the sparkles came forth from the ball, Giovanni knew he had another Legendary Pokémon at his disposal. Continuing to watch, he grinned as more and more Legendary Pokémon were captured by his forces. The number of Rockets may have dwindled significantly, but with the capture of these Legendary Pokémon, he knew that he had a force to be reckoned with. By the time all of the teams had either succeeded or failed in their missions, Giovanni had managed to obtain the Legendary Beasts: Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, of Johto; the Legendary Golems: Regirock, Registeel, and Regice; Darkrai, Cresselia, Heatran, Shaymin, Latios, and Latias. There was only one team that had not checked back in yet, and was not on the computer screen. That team was currently standing near the entrance to a cave just outside of Cerulean City. Giovanni had heard rumors of a mysterious Pokémon hanging around in the cave and he had dispatched an elite group of grunts called the Rocket Brothers to find the Pokémon and capture it. They each had been given a Master Ball, as well as being given some of the most powerful Pokémon in Team Rocket's possession: a Charizard, Aggron, Empoleon, a large regal-looking blue penguin-like Pokémon, and an Alakazam, which would provide emergency transportation should they end up losing the fight and be put in real danger. They also had several other more normal Rocket Pokémon, such as Weezing, Hypno, and even a Parasect, a crustacean-like Pokémon with a large mushroom on its back that looked to be like a shell. Giovanni waited to hear from them, hoping that whatever mysterious Pokémon was inside of Cerulean Cave, it was powerful enough to help him turn his fortunes around.

Over at Cerulean Cave the Rocket Brothers quickly let their Pokémon out of their Poké Balls in anticipation of having a battle in the near future. They told Alakazam and Hypno, "Okay you two, cloak our presence until we find our quarry. Also, link your minds to ours, just in case this mysterious Pokémon we're searching for turns out to be a Mew."

Both Pokémon nodded and gave a cry of affirmation. With that, the Rocket Brothers and their Pokémon went into Cerulean Cave, intent on capturing the mysterious Pokémon that lurked inside.

Deep inside the cave, a large number of Pokémon of all different types mulled about, minding their own business. Some were playing in or near any number of underwater streams and lakes, others were drinking from them, and others were simply searching for food. The cave had become a refuge for these Pokémon, a great many of which had either abandoned or escaped their Trainers, and as such, they were very strong and almost always evolved. However, there were two Pokémon inside the cave whose power was utterly terrifying. One of those Pokémon brought a sense of calm and safety to the others, while the other was barely controlled chaos incarnate to them and while she was not evil at all, in fact, she was quite nice, none of the Pokémon wanted to be in same time zone when said Pokémon came bounding along.

Not too far away from a group of strong Pokémon, a small cat-like Pokémon with fine white fur came bouncing along, mewing as if in song as it went. Upon hearing the singsong mews of the Pokémon, all of the Pokémon in the area immediately froze, a sense of dread and horror coming over them at the sound of coming Pokémon's voice. One Pokémon, a Rhydon, a large gray bipedal Pokémon with a head that partially resembled a triceratops's with a prominent nose horn turned and saw the small cat-like Pokémon bouncing towards them. The Pokémon resembled a common ordinary house cat, in both shape and size, save for its larger eyes and long thin white tail that ended with a thicker rounded tip. The others immediately recognized the jovial Pokémon as being Mew, a recent newcomer to the cave. She had a son, who she always referred to as a sourpuss, but she did not let his "dark" moods get her down. She just seemed to exude more joy and happiness to try to compensate for his lack of cheer. Unlike most other Mews, though, this Mew had much longer arms than others and her hind legs were much closer in form to a cat's than a rabbit's, making her physical shape and body type much more strongly resemble that of a house cat than a jerboa, which other members of her species seemed to more strongly resemble. She was also significantly more powerful than other members of her species, being able to threaten the entire planet if she ever got enraged enough to lose control of her temper, which she never did. Many Pokémon in the cave suspected that she was always so happy and did her best to never let anything get her down specifically so that she would never feel sad and be a potential threat to the world. Despite her jovial personality, though, she was also not always observant and aware of her surroundings. And with her power, that meant that anyone unfortunate enough to be in her way when she came bounding along would oftentimes need medical attention immediately after she passed.

The Pokémon gave her a wide berth as she bounced and frolicked towards them, numerous items encased in small pink bubbles hovering around her, just managing to stay off the ground as she danced by. On several occasions, she would open her arms and a dazzling display of lights and fireworks would erupt from them. The Pokémon made certain to not be anywhere close to her when that happened, for anything trapped in that display would likely be annihilated. As she went by, she would energetically dance towards the other Pokémon, psychically saying, "Hi," and doing her best to look as happy and cute as possible, in an attempt to cheer all of the other Pokémon as well. She would also dance with some of the Pokémon she came across, too, especially if they looked to be sad or scared, which many were when she came by. Her attempts to make all of the Pokémon happy and cheerful, rather than terrified beings that felt as if they were in mortal peril, were only partially successful as the other Pokémon could not deny that she was very cute, especially the males, but they were still utterly terrified whenever they heard her bouncing along, especially any flying Pokémon or rodent-like Pokémon like Pikachu or Raichu, for unlike most other Pokémon, Mew was quite carnivorous and almost always preferred meat and live prey to wild berries, apples, and other fruits and vegetables; her favorite being fish. While other Pokémon could be carnivorous should the opportunity present itself, many simply ate wild berries, apples, or whatever Pokémon food from Trainers consisted of. Not Mew, though, as an unfortunate mouse found out when it scurried out in front of her and froze, only to be surrounded by a red field of psychic energy and brought along with her as another bit of the bountiful harvest she had gathered. Many of the rodent-like Pokémon were quite thankful that it had not been them that had been gathered up by Mew, even though she would never eat a sentient, even if her life depended on it.

Deeper inside the cave, on an island surrounded by a relatively large underground lake, resided another Pokémon that Mew had referred to as her son. Anyone who looked at the Pokémon, though, would have wondered how Mew could have birthed such a being, for he was far larger than any Mew and only bore a passing resemblance to her. This Pokémon was humanoid in appearance with some cat-like characteristics and stood at over six feet in height. He had gray body with a purple underside with a long purple tail much thicker than Mew's, and was perfect for bashing an opponent should he be caught flatfooted in close combat. He also had two arms with paws with three digits on each paw, as well as two legs with three digits on each paw as well. He also had purple eyes that glowed blue when he used his psychic powers, and two small ears on the top of his head. He stood in place, meditating, as Mew approached. The other Pokémon felt a sense of calm whenever they saw him rarely venture away from his island sanctuary, but they knew never to bother him at all, for this Pokémon's power was greater even than Mew's. Not only that, but he also had a temper and was more easily annoyed than Mew. While Mew would cause damage simply by not being careful, and any damage she inflicted was hardly ever intentional, this Pokémon was very careful and aware and any damage he would inflict would not be accidental. As such, the other Pokémon inside Cerulean Cave left him alone. In return, he also left them alone, each party keeping to themselves.

He immediately sensed the jovial Pokémon approaching and suppressed a shrug. He had wanted to have some time to himself, but Mew was doing everything in her power to make sure that that did not happen. "Hi Mewtwo, I'm back!" she called in a singsong voice.

Mewtwo immediately gave a shrug as he opened his eyes and caught sight of Mew holding a large assortment of berries and even some types meat that she must have found on the surface inside a store. He also caught sight of the terrified mouse trapped in her psychic field. "Really?" Mewtwo asked with a shrug. "You know I don't like live prey. Besides, I'm not hungry. I already had breakfast."

"But you're my son," Mew replied cheerfully. "I gave birth to you and I'm a cat. That means that you're also a cat. Cats eat mice, birds, rodents, bugs, and other things, so eat up," she finished, shoving the mouse towards his mouth.

"But I'm not hungry," Mewtwo reiterated, pushing it away.

Mew gave a shrug. "But mice also make great toys. They can scurry away while you chase them," she offered, batting around the unfortunate mouse. "It's a lot of fun."

"Not for the mouse," Mewtwo replied, giving a glum expression towards the hapless rodent.

Mew gave a frown and then looked down at the terrified mouse, still psychically suspended in midair. "Fine, sourpuss," she pouted. She then psychically tossed the mouse to the other side of the small lake, allowing it to land softly so it could leave the cave alive. She had a different breakfast in mind for her. She went over to the shore and gazed into the lake. Reaching in with her right paw, she managed to snag a fish and lift it out of the water. Killing the fish with a single psychic blast in an instant, she shoved it into her mouth and gobbled it down. Patting her stomach, she gave a satisfied sigh. "That was good," she said, almost sighing, giving off a burp. Turning to Mewtwo, she continued, "I can see why you live here. The fish here are the best and the water is crystal clear. I give this place ten stars," she proclaimed.

"That's not the reason I live down here, Mew," the far larger Pokémon replied.

"I told you before, call me Mom!" Mew pouted.

"No disrespect, but I don't know for certain that you _are_ my mother," he answered. "All of my memories of when I was young are scrambled, with the first memory of me being when I was on New Island."

"Then you must have been captured after burning the Cinnabar Mansion and transferred to the lab there as a baby," Mew answered. "Nevertheless, you are my son, a genetically engineered son, I think, but my son nonetheless. Of that, I'm certain. If you don't believe me, take a DNA test."

"If I was a clone, my DNA could still match yours."

Mew then gave another frown. "Only if they found a way to change your sex, too," she retorted. "Why don't you want to be my son?"

"I don't mind being your son," Mewtwo answered in a concerned tone, trying to assure her that he was happy about having her as his mother, even though there was something that still bothered him about such a small Pokémon being his mother. "After all, it means I have a family."

"Even if you weren't my biological son, you'd always be family to me," Mew answered, smiling as she floated over to Mewtwo and gave him a hug. She then nestled into his arms and looked up at him as cutely as possible. It was strange for Mewtwo and made him a little uncomfortable since he was the child, and she, the adult, despite their size difference, something that she easily caught onto. "Now if only you could be a baby once more and I could cuddle you the way you have the ability to cuddle me now," she lamented.

Mewtwo said nothing as Mew then turned to face him with a bright smile on her face once more. "I know!" she exclaimed excitedly. She then transformed into a female version of Mewtwo, a pink bow on her head and round breasts on her chest. However, she would have still been decent by human societal standards.

Mewtwo merely gave a shrug and sat back down on the ground. Mew merely went over and hugged her son, embarrassing him even more, despite the fact that there were no Pokémon or other lifeforms there to see her display of affection. Seeing that her son would not nestle in her bosom, she gave a huff and transformed back into her normal form. There, she sat until another idea came to mind and she perked up once more.

"Hey, I know. Why don't you, your father, and I all go on a vacation to the Hawaiian Islands?" she exclaimed. "They have great food, great water, great beaches, and I could parade my cuteness to all the tourists. You'd also get to meet lots of other lifeforms: human, Pokémon, and normal animal. It's better than staying in this dark, dank cave for the rest of your life."

"I thought you just said you could see why I stayed here," Mewtwo replied, glancing back at his mother.

"I know that the clear water and good fish aren't the reason you stay here," she retorted, becoming more serious. "You just want to be alone."

Mewtwo gave a smile. "May I?"

"No," came Mew's quick answer. "I'm gonna break you out of that shell if it's the last thing I do." She then floated up behind Mewtwo's back and began to push him towards the edge of the island, declaring, "Now come on and let's get going. We have to get your dad so we can go on our very own world cruise."

Mewtwo suppressed a shrug, as well as the urge to push back and send his mother flying into the wall on the other side of the cave, as she pushed him along the ground to the edge of the island. However, just as they got close to the edge of the island, Mewtwo sensed something and he planed his foot into the rocky ground, anchoring himself to the ground. Mew tried to move him, but was unable to do so. "Come on you sourpuss," she complained. "Stop pouting and let's get…"

"Quiet," Mewtwo commanded harshly. His order silenced Mew and she gave a pout. Sensing her disapproval, he told her, "We're not alone. Someone's coming."

Extending his psychic senses, he sensed the arrival of the Rocket Brothers as they entered the cavern housing the underground lake and island. "Stay here," he told his mother. "I'm going to see who it is." He already knew that it was the Rocket Brothers and merely hoped that Mew would not become too curious as to who these intruders were. The last thing he wanted was her being curious as to what was going on with Team Rocket and having her guard lowered around them, which it almost always was, or seemed to be. After all, that was likely how Team Rocket scientists managed to find her and contain her while she was pregnant with him in the first place. Mew did her best to look annoyed, but she did not protest, or follow along immediately, as Mewtwo floated over to see what four members of Team Rocket were doing here. Still, he could not help but notice a curious sensation come over Mew as she watched him float over to the shore.

Over on the shore, the Rocket Brothers emerged from the tunnel that led to the underground cavern, lake, and island. One of the brothers, complained, "Man, of all the strong Pokémon in the cave, why couldn't there be any really rare _and_ powerful ones. I've had enough of all the Golbats and Kadabras."

"Yeah, why not have a battle trained Alakazam or a really rare Pokémon like a Dragonite or a Mew?" one of the others agreed. "We could really use some after our more recent losses."

"Quiet, both of you," the brother standing in front of the others, and the de facto leader, snapped. "I'm picking up something on my scanner."

Looking forward, they saw a large bipedal cat-like Pokémon standing before them, with a smaller cat-like Pokémon floating behind it. They recognized the smaller Pokémon as being Mew, but they had no idea of what the larger Pokémon was. They were shocked at the sight of the Pokémon and one of them pulled out a Pokédex. Upon scanning it, the scan came back in the form of a male mechanical voice, "Pokémon unknown. No available data."

The Rocket Brothers looked surprised at the lack of data given by the Pokédex. Still, they thought that there was something familiar about the Pokémon, noticing its passing similarity to Mew. Switching to Mew, they then scanned the newcomer, the scan coming back with an image of a Mew with shorter front legs, or arms, and more rabbit-like feet, saying, "Mew, the New Species Pokémon. It is said that Mew carries the DNA of all Pokémon in the world and is believed to be the origin of all Pokémon in the world."

The Rocket Brothers gave a frown and had the Pokédex perform a genetic scan on the two Pokémon. The Rocket Brothers scanned both Mew and Mewtwo once more, suspecting him of being related to Mew, given the appearance of a Mew behind him. The scan soon came back, the monotone voice once again speaking. "Scan complete. DNA indicates that Pokémon is an evolution of the Mew species. Scans indicate that this Pokémon is the biological offspring of the female Mew behind him. Powers and abilities unknown."

That did not help the Rocket Brothers very much. They were hoping that the scans would indicate just how powerful the Mew and Mewtwo were. While they knew that their mission was to capture rare and powerful Pokémon, they did not want to waste their Master Balls on weak Pokémon, though given the appearance of Mewtwo; it certainly did not look like he was weak. It was then that they heard Mewtwo speak as his voice echoed throughout their minds, "Why have four Team Rocket agents come here?"

The fact that the Pokémon could speak, albeit telepathically, greatly surprised them. They had not heard of a Pokémon that could speak before, besides the Meowth that was with Jessie and James. Even if this evolution of Mew was not all that powerful, there would be a ton of Pokémon collectors that would want this creature. The Mew, itself, would also be valuable. These two Pokémon could solve Team Rocket's money problems in a heartbeat. Without even hinting at giving Mewtwo an answer, they answered his question when the two lead brothers pulled out their Master Balls and tossed them at Mew and Mewtwo.

"Wow cool!" Mew exclaimed as the purple Master Ball approached her. "That's a really cool design for a Poké Ball."

Mewtwo did not agree, for he knew that it was a Master Ball, a Poké ball that was said to be able to capture any Pokémon without fail. He also sensed a strange energy emanating from the ball, something dark. Wasting no time, he used his telekinesis to suspend the Poké Balls in midair. Mewtwo's eyes flashed and the two Poké Balls exploded into a shower of dust and shrapnel. Just as the Poké Balls exploded, he wiped the minds of the Rocket Brothers and their Pokémon of the incident and teleported them out of the cave, and to an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Mew gave a frown after the Rocket Brothers disappeared. "Did you have to annihilate them?" she moaned.

"They are fine," Mewtwo answered in a dour tone, indicating that he much rather would have annihilated them than let them leave the cave alive. "I teleported them and their Pokémon to an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean. I also wiped their minds of the incident so that they would have no memory of ever having met us."

Mew did not perk up at hearing that her son had not killed them. "Why'd you do that?" she asked still perturbed. "It's not like they're a threat to us."

"No," Mewtwo partially agreed. "But they _are_ a threat to others. Also, the fact that Team Rocket managed to find us tells me that they may have a purpose for us. I wish to investigate this a bit further. From my scan, I know that Team Rocket is assembling an army of Pokémon, so…"

"No," Mew finished for him, covering his mouth. "They're dealt with. We don't have to bother ourselves with Team Rocket or any other human criminal organization."

Mewtwo disagreed. "I have the power to destroy them once and for all. You do, too. We can't just sit around and waste our talents."

"We also have the power to rule the world," Mew countered. "And we'd probably be better at it than those already in charge. Yet, we don't do so. This is a human problem. Let them deal with it." Changing the subject, she continued, "As for us, it's time for me to teach you how flying ought to be done."

"Mom, I already know how to…" but before he finished, he quickly found himself standing over a vast tourist resort that was either in the Bahamas, or in another Atlantic paradise island.

"First, you have to get out of that dark, dank cave and get some fresh air and space," Mew said patronizingly, holding a finger up for her new student. Mewtwo could only shrug as he was forced to go through Mew's lesson. As she taught him, her face constantly split into a grin and she knew only happiness and joy. Mewtwo, on the other hand, could not help but shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen, and that it might also affect one of his few friends in the world.

Meanwhile, over on an uncharted Pacific island, the four Rocket Brothers found themselves appearing in the middle of a dense jungle. Without any idea how they had gotten there, or why they were there, they looked around at each other. Each of them knew, though, that this was not their intended destination at all. "Where are we?" one of them asked, perplexed as to what was happening."

"I don't know," another answered. He then pulled out a datapad with a map and activated it. The map showed that they were nowhere close to any known cities or countries.

"I don't know what we're doing here, but I know that this isn't where we're supposed to be," the third brother said.

The leader nodded. "I agree." They soon looked around and saw that their Pokémon were just as confused as to what had happened as they were. Recalling all of their Pokémon, save for Alakazam. Once they were inside their Poké Balls, the leader of the Rocket Brothers, and the oldest of them, ordered, "Alakazam, take us back to base."

The Psychic-type Pokémon nodded and the Rockets vanished from the island.

Back at Team Rocket Headquarters, the Rocket Brothers appeared next to Giovanni. Giovanni's Persian, noticing the arrival of the brothers, gave a meow and alerter Giovanni to their arrival. "You're back," he noted.

"Yes sir," they each responded in unison.

"Were you successful?"

The brothers glanced around, noticing the activity around them as the rest of Team Rocket was making preparations for their assault on Leaf and the leaders of the Pokémon League. "We don't know," the oldest of them eventually answered. "We have no memory of where we were. All we remember is leaving base, and then finding ourselves on some uncharted island. The thing is, though, that I think that our target may have been there. I just don't know."

Giovanni gave a frown. They had just described a selective memory wipe in perfect detail. "I'll take that as a no," he answered for them. This was not what he needed. There were very few humans or Pokémon that could perform such a perfect memory wipe that there was little suspicion on the part of the victim. He could not worry about that right now. He was so close to taking down one of his greatest enemies. He could not afford to be sidetracked now. "Don't worry about it," he told them sternly. "I'll deal with it later. Right now, you're being dispatched to Double-Oh-Nine. She'll need all the help she can get."

"Yes, sir," the brothers responded in unison.

Turning his attention to the large screen in front of him, he barked, "Get me Double-Oh-Nine." The face of the young blond haired woman soon appeared on the screen.

"I read you, sir," Domino, knowing that it was Giovanni was calling even before he had begun to speak. "Are we a go?"

"Yes," Giovanni confirmed, nodding. "Phases One and Two are complete. I am sending you some more Rockets, including the Rocket Brothers. Once they join you, go!" Giovanni commanded.

"With pleasure, sir," Domino replied in a sadistic tone.

The signal was then cut and the screen went blank. Giovanni nodded towards the brothers and their Alakazam teleported them to Domino's location. Once they were gone, Giovanni grinned and awaited news of the destruction of the leadership of the World Pokémon League. With so many troops participating in the attack, there was no way they could fail.

Back near Indigo Plateau, Domino and the rest of her force of Rocket Grunts and Agents waited as more than sixteen reinforcements arrived to bolster her forces. Once the Rockets arrived, the Agents asked for the Grunts, "What's the situation, Double-Oh-Nine?"

"We're gonna attack that hotel," Domino replied, pointing into the distance. "The World Pokémon League Champion's going to be there, both the current one and the former one, too."

"Leaf's there?" one of the Grunts asked with a mixture of both exhilaration and fear.

Domino nodded. "She's there, alright; her, her family, and several other big players in the Pokémon League. If we succeed, we'll cripple the Pokémon League to the point where Team Rocket'll be able to take over very quickly. Our mission is to take them out. We're not holding back, here. We're going in with everything we've got. Our mission is to kill them."

She turned to examine the forces that had assembled to gauge their reaction to their orders and what she saw caused her to grin. They were chomping at the bit to go down and take the fight to the League. They did not care at all that they were being ordered to murder some children and families. The Rockets drew out their Poké Balls and also their side arms. They were eager to get a piece of the action, themselves as well. With that, the small army headed down the hill and headed towards the hotel, their goal: the death of everyone at Ash's birthday party, especially Ash Ketchum and Leaf.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Inside the hotel party hall, Ash continued to talk to his mother and Professor Oak, telling them about his recent adventures while they were eating. Ash had gotten a large steak with potatoes and a soda, while his mother was eating a chicken dish and Professor Oak was having soup. The adults listened as Ash recounted his adventures ever since he had last seen them. Traveling alone was a unique experience for him. On almost all of his previous adventures, he had had at least two companions. Going it alone had been a new challenge for him. However, he viewed it as a good learning experience for him. After he had finished talking, his mother said, "And to think, now you're the new World Pokémon League Champion. I'm so proud of you, honey!" Her face beamed as she smiled at him.

"You certainly were impressive in the challenge," Professor Oak added. "No one had ever managed to defeat Leaf before."

"I still don't view _that_ as a win," Ash interjected.

"Why not?" Delia asked. "You were able to tie with her in the Pokémon Battle and managed to subdue her in the real fight. _She_ was the one who challenged you to a physical battle and she also interfered in Pikachu's battle with Tyranitar."

Ash was silent for a second, trying to think of what to say. "There's a little more to it than that," he eventually told them. "It's just that I've never participated in a Pokémon Battle where the Trainers directly fought before."

"It used to be standard practice," Professor Oak said.

"I heard," Ash replied.

"And I can see why it was discontinued," Delia added. She had not been comfortable seeing Ash engage Mia in a physical battle, especially when she had seen Mia quickly gain the upper hand. Had she not made the mistake of trying to wrestle with Ash, she would have easily defeated him. She looked over at her son and found that his attention was elsewhere. He was looking around at the party and the various guests. He had yet to mingle with May, Dawn, or Tracey. Despite the fact that they were pretty close by, he seemed to have his attention focused on another. Following his gaze, she found that Ash was staring at Leaf, his opponent in the battle for the World Pokémon League Championship. She seemed to be gazing at the group as if she wanted to join them, but was hesitant to do so. She often turned to look over at another area of the party. Over in the corner, Delia saw a Tyranitar, as well as an extra Venusaur and a Chandelure. Leaf had brought her Pokémon to the party. For a fleeting moment, she thought that she actually recognized Leaf from somewhere, but could not place where she had met the girl before.

Noticing that Delia was focusing her attention away from the group, much like Ash, Professor asked, "What is it Delia?"

Professor Oak's question got Delia's attention and she turned to him, answering, "I don't know." She gave another pause as she glanced back towards Mia, not knowing the girl's connection to Ash, or her, and continued, "But for the faintest of moments, I thought I recognized Leaf."

"Recognized her?"

Delia nodded. Ash heard the conversation and a glimmer of hope came to him that his mother would recognize Mia. He wished for Mia to come over and hoped that she would pick up on his thoughts through their bond. However, she continued to stand off at a distance and merely look over at the group from time to time, as well as talking to Tyranitar. Eventually, she began to approach the small table where the three were sitting. When she arrived, she stood off a couple of meters away. Ash, not wanting to give her away completely, used his bond to send his feelings and wish for her to join them to her. He felt her cautious response as she continued to stand away. Professor Oak, however, was quick to notice that Ash was looking at something and followed his gaze, finding Mia standing not too far away. "Well well, it looks like we have another guest," he said in a friendly tone. "And quite the unexpected one, it seems."

Delia looked behind her and saw Mia standing there, looking back and forth between her and Ash. While she was not so surprised to see the girl, having caught a glimpse of her a short time ago, she _was_ surprised at how Mia's gaze was going back and forth between her and Ash. She also began to wonder how the girl had managed to come to this party since, besides Cynthia and Lance, who doubled as security for the party, as well as having to give Ash "the speech" on his new responsibilities as the World Pokémon League Champion, none of the other Elite Champions had come to the party. Besides, neither she, nor Professor Oak, had invited the girl. "Leaf, what are you doing here?" she asked. "Also, how did you get in?"

"I was invited," she eventually answered sheepishly. She had no idea on how to talk to her mother. So many conflicting emotions were going through her mind at the moment. Did she remember her? If so, why had she not looked for her? Did she believe her to be dead? Did she not care? She simply did not know what to think.

"By whom?" Professor Oak and Delia asked in unison.

"By me," came Ash's answer. He gave a kind smile to Mia. _Go on, Mia. Tell them who you are_.

_I can't_, she responded telepathically. _I don't even know if Mom knows I exist_.

_You'll never find out unless you ask her_, came Ash's sage response, which actually surprised Mia, causing her to give a little laugh, which confused Delia and Professor Oak, but also seemed to bring back memories for Delia. For an instant, she felt that she recognized the girl's laugh. The only problem was that she could not remember how she knew Leaf, if that was her real name to begin with.

"You invited her?" Delia asked, surprised at the revelation. "So honey, what caused you to invite your final opponent to your birthday party and Championship celebration?" she eventually asked. Her smile indicated that she was amused at the prospect of Ash having a girlfriend.

Ash turned to Mia and motioned for her to give the answer, but she merely blushed and stared back at him. Eventually, she replied, "I went to the Pokémon Center to heal my friends and Ash and I got talking about the responsibilities of being a Champion and I talked to him about the battle."

"Why did you invoke the Old Rules?" Professor Oak blurted in question. "They have not been invoked in over a decade, and for good reason."

Mia gave him a slight scowl. "As the so-called Pokémon Professor of the Kanto Region, you should know why I would do something like that," she replied.

Her answer took him aback at first but after a few seconds, he began to understand where she was coming from. "I see," he eventually said, nodding knowingly. "Still, it's something I would have expected out of N or Unova's Team Plasma, not the Pokémon League Champion," Professor Oak stated.

"I'm surprised you've heard of Team Plasma," she said in a conversational tone. "They were in Unova, and weren't around for a long time before being disbanded."

"I've heard of them," Professor Oak responded, looking down at the ground. "At first glance, I wrote them off as merely another organization like Team Rocket or one of the many other criminal teams. And while upon further glance they were not nearly as evil as Team Rocket, they were terribly misguided and their goals would have still been detrimental to the rest of the world. Not to mention the fact that they were ruled by someone just as bad as Cyrus or Team Rocket's leaders."

"I'll agree with you about Ghetsis, but I don't think that N and Team Plasma were truly evil," Mia contested. "While their method of carrying out their goal was clearly wrong, wanting Pokémon to be free and equal to humans is not evil, or wrong. That's why I didn't join them, despite agreeing with them about wanting Pokémon to not be viewed as slaves."

"I see," Professor Oak said.

As Professor Oak and Mia were talking, Ash merely watched their discussion and listened to their points of view. His attention quickly turned to the rest of the party. All of his friends were having fun and discussing various things about their quests. The Pokémon were also interacting with each other, save for Charizard, Tyranitar, and Serperior. All three Pokémon soon saw that the other was not associating all that much with the others, merely watching the party from a distance, and when their gazes crossed, they studied each other. Ash smiled as Tyranitar and Charizard went over to a tray of Pokémon food and talked, rather than fought over the food. Serperior quickly joined them and the three of them quickly seemed to talk. He soon noticed that Professor Oak and Mia's discussion had ended and that Mia was looking at the scene from behind. She gave a soft laugh and noted, "It seems as if Tyranitar is finally opening up a bit." What the party did not notice, though, was that Mia's Chandelure was watching over the party and extending its senses beyond the party hall, wanting to make sure that no trouble came searching for them. Trouble, however, was not too far away, and approaching fast.

Domino and the Team Rocket assault force quickly approached the hotel, not bothering to use any disguises. They felt as if their strength in numbers would be sufficient. With more than forty grunts and agents, plus their Pokémon, they felt as if they had more than enough troops to deal with the Champion, former Champion, two World Elite Four members, plus whoever else was present at their targets' location.

"Everyone be alert," Domino warned. "Despite reports, there may be some secret security systems in the hotel that our operatives didn't learn about, and deactivate."

"Right," the Rocket grunts echoed as they loaded and charged their side arms and readied their Poké Balls. They wanted to find their targets quickly and kill them as fast as possible. None of the Rockets relished the prospect of battling Leaf in a protracted fight, for she had proven time and again that she was a skilled trainer, and her Pokémon were very strong. Domino drew out her lightning gun and led the group towards the hotel entrance.

Domino and the Rocket forces made their way into the hotel and immediately found Jessie, James, and Meowth in security uniforms coming to meet them. When they arrived, Domino asked, "So, are the security systems down?"

The trio nodded. "Hotel security is blind and deaf," Jessie answered quietly. "They have no idea we're here, or that we were scouting the place for you."

"Excellent," Domino said in a sinister tone. "Do you know where this party for the new Champion is being held?"

"They're in Dragonite Hall," Jessie answered for the other two.

"It's on the basement level and can be accessed via escalator," James added before Jessie could continue, wanting to show his worth. "There's also an exterior entrance to the final corridor. There are no extra security forces protecting the hall on the lower level, or outside the hotel."

"It would also be da perfect place for a group of grunts ta enter and launch a surprise attack," Meowth interjected.

"I'll decide the plan of attack," Domino snapped. While Meowth did have a point, she did not like it when a Pokémon, particularly this Meowth, gave her suggestions. Still, the plan had merit. The chances of an all out frontal assault being effective were small, especially if Leaf and her Pokémon were ready for such a maneuver. She then turned to the rest of the force and informed them, "Okay, a modification of plans: Team One, you're under the command of Jessie, James, and Meowth for the moment."

"What?" Butch and Cassidy blurted, their disapproval evident on their faces. Jessie and James could not hide the grins on their faces.

"Shut up," Domino snapped. "I'm in charge of the mission here, and _I_ will make the decisions." She then turned back to Jessie, James, and Meowth and added, "And don't you forget it, either."

Once she was finished chastising the two teams, she continued, "Team One will launch the first wave of the attack, going down the escalator and going in guns and Pokémon blazing. Your mission is simple: kill Leaf and the new Champion, Ash Ketchum. Also, kill their Pokémon as well if you can since they're a lot more independent than the Pokémon of other Trainers. As for the other guests, kill them if you see them and have a good shot. However, don't go out of your way to get them. Your primary targets are Ash and Leaf, do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am," the Rockets responded in unison.

"Good. I will be in direct command of Team Two. We'll be taking the long way around and entering from the hotel entrance just outside the hall. We'll be late to the party, but if Leaf and the others are mounting a strong defense, they should be too distracted fighting off Team One for them to focus on us. We'll take advantage of that and hopefully kill Leaf and Ash quickly, assuming they're not already dead. Any questions?"

One of the Rocket grunts raised his hand. "What is it?" Domino asked.

"Double-Oh-Nine, what happens if the rumors about Leaf having a Mew, or being close to one are true?"

"We can't worry about that right now," she answered. "We have to focus on the mission. Hopefully, we won't have to find out one way or the other whether or not those rumors are correct. Anymore questions?" she asked after a long pause. No one raised their hands. "Okay then, you know your assignments. Go!"

With that, the force broke off into two teams. Domino led Team Two out of the hotel and went to make her way around to the back while Jessie, James, and Meowth led Team One towards the escalator. The group of seventeen Rocket grunts and agents soon made their way down the escalator, fingering their Poké Balls, preparing to release them the moment they got within sight of Dragonite Hall. "Okay everyone," Butch called out to the others. "This is it. Let's make this a party they'll soon forget."

"Oh yeah," the Rockets answered as one. With that, the Rockets released their Pokémon from their Poké Balls. Out came a large variety of Pokémon from the normal Koffings, Weezings, and Drowzees, to the rarer Skarmory, a large, gray bird-like Steel/Flying-type Pokémon, Doduo, a bipedal two-headed Normal/Flying-type Pokémon that resembled a cross between an ostrich and a kiwi with brown feathers, to even having a Charizard and a Tentacruel, a large jellyfish-like Pokémon. Jessie and James also released all of their Pokémon from their Poké Balls and took the lead. Once all of their Pokémon had been deployed, the Rockets launched their assault.

Inside Dragonite Hall, the birthday celebration for Ash was beginning. A large cake was being brought to him and his family and friends that were present. May, Dawn, and Tracey, along with all of their Pokémon, gathered around the table as they sang "Happy Birthday" to him. Mia stood off at a distance watching the celebration. She did not want to interrupt Ash's party. Despite the fact that she was his sister and that they had just found each other once again, this was his party. She did not wish to intrude upon it. Her mother had not recognized her when she had been called over by Ash, and several of Ash's friends had referred to her as his girlfriend, rather than anything else, despite any slight resemblance that they may have shared. Since her mother had not recognized her, and it was Ash's celebration, she was content to keep her distance and watch. She resolved to tell her mother the truth about her as soon as the celebration was over. This would be the worst time to bring up her true identity to her mother.

Mia watched as Ash blew out the candles, just barely managing to extinguish them with one breath. After the candles were blown out, the group began cutting pieces of cake for the guests. Seeing that Mia was still standing off at a distance, Ash called over to her, saying, "Come on, Mia, have some cake."

"Mia?" Delia and Professor Oak asked in unison. Turning to the girl, Delia asked, "Is that your real name?"

Mia was about to give an answer when both Starmie and Chandelure quickly approached, Chandelure's eyes glowing as it quickly said its name in almost frantic tones. Starmie's core was also flashing, indicating that it, too, was trying to tell them something. Mia did not need any Pokédex translation to know that they were warning her of danger to not only herself, but to the rest of the party. Several other Pokémon stopped whatever it was that they were doing and focused their attention to the door. Knowing that an attack was imminent, Mia immediately turned over the closest table, knocking off all of the china and silverware, and ducked behind it. Charizard, Tyranitar, and several other Pokémon followed her lead as Ash, Delia, and Professor Oak went over to her an yelled, "What are you doing?"

"We're under attack!" she cried in warning. Turning to her Pokémon, who were already forming ranks and taking cover behind the tables, she commanded, "When the attackers come through, attack immediately. Don't give them a chance to deploy their…" but before she could finish, the large doors to the hall were blown inward. Metal was flung from the doors to the tables, forcing everyone to take cover. The Pokémon and humans reflexively dove behind the tables. Those that were made of metal were strong enough to protect Ash, Mia, and the partiers from the shrapnel. Those that were made of wood, though, did not hold up nearly as well and some pieces managed to pierce them. Fortunately, none of the guests had taken cover behind the wooden tables. Surging through the blown through doors were seventeen Team Rocket soldiers, along with their Pokémon. Ash immediately recognized Jessie, James, and Meowth as they entered, supported by fifteen other Rockets. He also vaguely remembered Butch and Cassidy from several previous encounters, though Mia had had more recent experience in treating them like living practice dummies. "Team Rocket," Mia seethed when she saw the Rockets flood into the hall.

As they entered, the Rockets and their Pokémon formed ranks, the Pokémon lining up in front of the Trainers as Butch and Cassidy stepped forward, despite the fact that Jessie, James, and Meowth were supposed to be in charge of the team. As soon as Cassidy stepped forward, she proclaimed, "Prepare for trouble…"

"…and make it double," Butch continued.

But before they could continue with their motto, Mia cried in a loud voice, "Attack! Deadly force is authorized! Hold nothing back!"

Her Pokémon were quick to obey as Jolteon launched a Thunderbolt towards a Golbat. The bolt of lightning struck the bat-like Pokémon in its center of mass and electricity arced across its body as it gave a cry of pain as it was immediately rendered unconscious by the attack. The Pokémon quickly fell to the ground and was out of the fight. The rest of Mia's Pokémon also launched a series of attacks on several of the Pokémon that had formed ranks in front of the Rockets. Two more Rocket Pokémon, a Hitmontop, a Fighting-type Pokémon with a spherical body with two thin legs, a tail, and a brown head that had curved flat extensions and a single spike, and a Weezing fell to the series of attacks. The two Pokémon were forced backwards, one by a Psychic attack from Starmie, with the other having sustained a direct hit from both a Solar Beam from Venusaur, and a Flamethrower from Chandelure, forcing two Rockets to dive to the ground to avoid the incoming Pokémon as they sailed over the humans and crashed into the wall in the outside corridor and slid down to the floor, unconscious. Next, a Hyper Beam launched from Tyranitar zeroed in on a series of Pokémon, but two Rocket Alakazams immediately appeared and each raised a Light Screen over the party. The Hyper Beam struck the barrier and splashed against, breaking through the first Light Screen, but failing to breach the second.

"We've taken precautions against your Pokémon and their moves," Cassidy bragged. "Alakazam, use Reflect!"

Immediately, a second screen rose above the Team Rocket force that had assaulted the party. However, since only one Pokémon knew Reflect, only one layer was erected over the attacking force. Mia grimaced, for her primary force did not have a Pokémon that knew Brick Break, which would allow her to collapse the Light Screen and Reflect barriers. Not only that, but none of Ash's Pokémon that were present knew Brick Break either. She hoped that one of Ash's friends had a Pokémon that knew the move, but when she looked back, she saw that they were taking cover behind the tables. Team Rocket soon upped the ante when the grunts, save for Jessie, James, and Meowth, drew guns and opened fire on the group, forcing everyone, including Mia and her Pokémon, to dive for cover. Their Pokémon also joined in the onslaught and unleashed a series of attacks to support their Trainers. Energy bolts, waves, and bullets flew all around the room as Team Rocket attempted to slaughter Ash, Mia, and all of the guests. Mia barely got behind cover as a barrage of energy bolts, bullets, and Pokémon attacks tore through the air. Checking the rest of her party, she found that her Pokémon had managed to dive behind cover. They occasionally emerged to take a few shots at the Rockets and their Pokémon, but the Reflect and Light Screen barriers shielded the Rockets from their attacks. While she knew that the Reflect and Light Screen barriers would only remain active for a limited amount of time, the Alakazams could constantly raise more barriers so she figured that she would have to take them down the old fashioned way and hope that one of the blasts managed to get through and take down one or both of the Alakazams. Fortunately, neither she nor Ash were confined to the rules of a League battle. The only issue would be to get Ash to assist her in the attack. "Everyone, focus your strongest attacks on the barriers now! We have to take them down before we can deal damage to Team Rocket!" she cried to her Pokémon.

Her Pokémon quickly complied, with Tyranitar and Garchomp targeting the Reflect with a Stone Edge attack and a Dragon Claw on the Reflect, while the rest used their strongest special attacks on the Light Screen. Without direction from Ash, Charizard joined Mia's Pokémon, unleashing a Blast Burn. His tail's flame grew to incredible size, becoming twice as large as before, and a stream of white-hot flame emerged from Charizard's mouth as it lashed out towards the Light Screen. The attacks splashed against the screen and the screen managed to hold for a few seconds. In that time, Team Rocket's Pokémon launched a counterattack, with a couple of Venomoths, light purple moth-like Pokémon, using Supersonic in an attempt to confuse the attacking Pokémon. The attack failed, though, and the Pokémon were unaffected. Mia offered a silent prayer of thanks that the Venomoth's Supersonic failed to confuse her Pokémon. Several Rockets then focused their fire on Tyranitar and the other Pokémon attacking. Tyranitar took a blast of glowing blue plasma to the chest, but only suffered minor surface burns, shrugging off the attack, which would have burned a hole through the torso of a human. Charizard also took a plasma blast to the chest, but he, too, emerged with only minor damage. Gazing at the scene, though, Mia and her Pokémon noticed that so far, they were the only ones fighting back against the Rocket force, the others seemingly being frozen in shock or staying behind cover. Just before she began to wonder if Ash would be a good Champion, he quickly rushed over her, diving behind the table as a series of energy pulses followed towards him, missing him by inches. Once he was safely in cover, he called to Pikachu and Snorlax, "Pikachu, help Charizard and Mia's Special Attack Pokémon in taking out that Light Screen. Snorlax, you help out against that Reflect! Everyone else, once those barriers are down, cut loose!" He knew the risks to Charizard and Snorlax, but thought that their superior stamina and resistance to damage would allow them to survive at least one hit from the Rockets' weapons, as demonstrated by Charizard. Still, he hoped that they would not have to be put to the test with some of the Rockets' slugthrower weapons.

Mia could only smile as she saw her brother joining her in the fighting. Her faith in him was not misplaced. Perhaps he did have what it took to be not only a Champion, but also a hero. She quickly reached into her backpack and pulled out a few small throwing stars, gripping two of them while putting the others in her belt. She then focused intently on the Rockets and waited to see if the Reflect fell. Once it did, she intended to let them have it with a barrage of stars.

One Rocket, however, decided to try to take out Mia and the attacking Pokémon in one fell swoop before they could launch a successful counterattack, seeing that the other Pokémon and guests were still not fighting back. He pulled out an orange sphere that looked to be encased in a translucent membrane that Mia suspected was some sort of adhesive. She heard of these weapons before, known as Gooey Bombs, but was surprised to find that Team Rocket had access to them since they were not in widespread use by either Earth or the Galactic Federation. The Rocket gave Mia no time to question how Team Rocket had gotten one of these bombs as he tossed the orb directly towards Tyranitar, hoping to stick the bomb to the Rock/Dark-type and kill him, and hopefully several other Pokémon, in one blow. Mia, seeing the bomb arc through the air, called out to Starmie in warning. Starmie gave a cry of affirmation and used its psychic power to stop the bomb in midair before it could latch onto Tyranitar. Once it had control of the bomb, it psychically tossed the bomb back towards the Rockets in a high arc. She quickly noticed that the bomb did not touch the Reflect barrier and grinned. The bomb landed next to a couple of oblivious Rocket grunts and flashed for a few moments before detonating in a blast of flame. The bomb's explosion killed one of the Rockets immediately, and wounded another, who had just drawn out a fragmentation grenade to toss over to the two children who were still hiding behind cover. Just as he had pulled the pin, the sticky bomb had exploded, its detonation blast, sending him flying, with severe burns all around his body. The grenade left his fingers and after a few seconds and bounced on the floor for a couple of seconds before it, too, detonated. It exploded among a gathering of Rocket grunts, either killing or severely wounding four of them, along with a Venomoth and a Zubat, a small gray bat-like Pokémon with no eyes. The Reflect screen proved to be the undoing of the two Alakazams as well since the shrapnel from the grenade bounced off of the Reflect screen and rebounded back onto the Pokémon, taking down the two Alakazams.

The Rockets still capable of fighting fell back a few feet upon seeing their support Pokémon and several of their comrades fall to their own grenades that were supposed to quickly finish off Mia, Ash, and several of their Pokémon. As if that were not bad enough, Tyranitar and Garchomp had managed to break through the Reflect barrier and charged towards the Rockets. A barrage of Stone Edge from Tyranitar took down a Rocket grunt and three Zubats, inflicting severe injuries to all four enemies, whereas Garchomp used Dragon Claw to cut a Rocket grunt and an Ekans, a purple snake-like Pokémon, in half. A second later, the remaining Light Screen fell and two more Rocket Grunts were felled by special attacks. One of them was electrocuted by a Thunderbolt unleashed by Pikachu, while Venusaur took down another grunt, as well as a Drowzee with a barrage of Razor Leaf. Despite their survival, the Rockets were in no condition to fight. Mia then let loose against the remaining grunts with barrage of throwing stars. Two Rockets took hits in the hands and chest and while the injuries inflicted by the stars were not fatal, or even all that serious, they were still painful and they dropped their weapons, unable to grip them through the pain. "Where are Double-Oh-Nine and Team Two?" one of the few remaining Grunts cried. "We're gettin' annihilated here!"

As if on cue, an explosion sounded behind the remaining Rockets and another force of Rockets came surging through, this one being led by Domino. A series of Gooey Bombs arced through the air and landed among the guests and on the tables, sticking to whatever surface they made contact with, causing the guests to scatter. The bombs stuck to whatever surface they struck and after a few seconds, exploded. Pieces of metal were sent flying through the air as the bombs blew apart tables and gouged large holes in the floor. Fortunately, there were no casualties inflicted by the bombs.

Domino entered the room as the rest of the grunts flooded in and unleashed their Pokémon upon Ash and Mia's Pokémon. Looking around, she saw ten Rocket grunts lying on the floor either dead or severely enough injured so as to be unable to continue fighting. A few other Rockets were crawling away, having suffered minor to moderate injuries, but were still able to continue fighting if need be. So far, only Jessie, James, Meowth, Butch, and Cassidy had yet to come to harm among the humans. There were still a number of Pokémon that were still able to battle, but their numbers were quickly being whittled down. The twenty-three Rockets that had come to support the remaining members of Team One were a much-needed relief force for them. Still, they all knew that they would face a tough challenge, for the remaining guests that were Pokémon Trainers were gathering their Pokémon and preparing for a counterattack. To make matters more interesting, neither Lance, nor Cynthia, were present. Domino went over to Jessie, James, and Meowth and ordered, "You three go and keep a lookout to make sure that Leaf and Ash don't get any reinforcements."

"Right," the trio nodded as they departed from the battle.

Turning to Butch, Cassidy, and the remaining Rockets in Team One, she told them, "You all tell me the situation. Have you managed to hurt any of the enemy's Pokémon?"

"Yeah," Butch answered. "We managed score a to hit on Leaf's Tyranitar and Ash's Charizard with a couple of plasma blasts, but they didn't take much damage."

Domino nodded, grimacing to herself. Turning back to the rest of the force, she commanded, "Everyone, release your Pokémon and have them engage all of the enemy's Pokémon now! The rest of you go after Ash and Leaf directly! I want them dead!"

"Right," the Rocket grunts answered. They drew out their Poké Balls and tossed them into the air. The balls then opened and released a series of Zubats, Golbats evolved forms of Zubat that had eyes and large faces; Crobats, the final evolution of Zubat that had four wings; Koffings, Weezings, evolved forms of Koffing that looked like two Koffings stuck together with a small round chamber behind them joined to each head by two tubes that looked like a Weezing head; Drowzees, a couple of Hypnos, and a Kadabra. Once the Rocket Pokémon were let out of their Poké Balls, Domino cried, "Attack! Kill all of the enemy Pokémon!"

The Rockets relayed the order to their Pokémon and the Pokémon immediately went on the attack against Ash and Mia's Pokémon. The Rockets directed their Pokémon to try to take advantage of any type advantages that they may have had over Ash and Mia's Pokémon, but that was made difficult due to the fact that most of the Rocket Pokémon had the Poison type, with only a few Psychic-types to back them up. Only Butch and Cassidy possessed Pokémon that were of another type, with them having a Charizard in addition to an Aggron, a large bipedal Pokémon with a black body with a thick hide, gray arm and leg bands, and a gray triceratops-like head with two horns sticking out with a helmet-like covering on the head that formed a third horn-like protrusion. Butch and Cassidy also let out their other Pokémon, consisting of Hypno, a Mightyena, a wolf-like Pokémon with black and gray fur; two Shedinjas, brown bug-like Pokémon that had three pairs of relatively short brown wings and a white halo on top of their heads; a Flygon, a green dragon-like Pokémon with two large red eyes and a long tail; a Mismagius, a dark purple Pokémon that floated in the air and resembled a ghostly witch wearing a large dark purple witch's hat; a Drapion, a large scorpion-like Pokémon with a segmented body with two segmented arm-like protrusions coming from its head; a Weavile, a dark purple and red bipedal cat-like Pokémon with vicious claws; a Nidoking, a large purple bipedal Pokémon with a cream-colored underbelly and a thick tail with numerous poisonous barbs on his head and back; and a Nidoqueen, a blue Pokémon that resembled Nidoking but had fewer poisonous barbs and the cream-colored underbelly only covered its breasts and lower abdomen.

Butch and Cassidy's Pokémon immediately joined the other Rockets' Pokémon in the fighting and were directed to seek out Pokémon that they had a type advantage against. Unfortunately, they quickly found that such a task was a lot more difficult than anticipated, for Mia's Pokémon worked quite well together, and Ash had _all_ of his Pokémon at the party. Despite the Rockets and their Pokémon outnumbering the guests, Ash, Mia, and all of their Pokémon, the superior strength and skill of Ash and Mia's Pokémon would make a huge difference.

A Team Rocket Golbat opened the battle by firing a Confuse Ray at Mia. Mia ducked and the six golden orbs of light sailed over her head. Jolteon was quick to counter with a Thunderbolt and the Golbat was immediately taken down with a single hit. Not too far away, Butch's Mightyena went straight for Ash, but was knocked away by his Sceptile, a bipedal almost humanoid gecko-like Pokémon, as it used Leaf Blade on the Pokémon, knocking it to the ground. Sceptile finished off the Pokémon with a volley of yellow seeds erupting from his mouth. Elsewhere, Ash's Charizard was engaged in a brawl with Butch and Cassidy's Charizard while their Aggron picked a fight with Mia's Tyranitar. Neither of Butch and Cassidy's Pokémon were faring particularly well in the fight as Ash's Charizard punched the Rockets' Charizard in the head, sending it reeling backwards. Charizard then rushed the Pokémon and grabbed its throat, biting and slashing at its head and body. Charizard then lifted his opponent into the air and threw him towards a Rocket grunt that was close to the battle between Tyranitar and Aggron and was trying to take a shot at Tyranitar with a b-grade science fiction-looking gun. The enemy Charizard crashed into him, flattening the Rocket, only the Rocket's gun arm emerging from the underneath the Pokémon. Mia quickly rushed over and grabbed the gun from the dead Rocket as Tyranitar gave a roar of warning.

Suddenly, Mia and all friendly Pokémon rushed behind Tyranitar, with many Poison, Fire, Rock, and Electric-type Pokémon rising into the air or being carried by Flying-type Pokémon as he stomped on the ground, creating a massive series of tremors. The entire hall shook from the impact of Tyranitar's foot and any grounded Poison, Electric, Rock, and Fire-type Pokémon for Team Rocket suffered a great deal of damage from the Earthquake. The Earthquake finished off Charizard and Aggron, and dealt severe damage to Nidoqueen, Nidoking, and inflicted significant damage to any other grounded Rocket Pokémon. After the Earthquake's effects had subsided, the floating Pokémon and those being carried by Flying-type or flight capable Pokémon were either placed back down onto the ground or jumped down and continued the fighting against the Rockets.

In another corner of the room, Serperior was dealing with Butch and Cassidy's Mismagius, having launched a stream of Toxic at it, badly poisoning it. She finished it off with a Leaf Storm, which also increased her own Special Attack abilities, which she used to fire off another Leaf Storm at Butch's Hypno. The stream of leaves rocketed towards Hypno but the human-like Psychic-type was too slow and the leaves scored a direct hit on the Pokémon. The increased power of the Leaf Storm was sufficient to take down the enemy Psychic-type in one hit. Not too far away, Ash and Mia's Venusaurs unleashed a volley of Razor Leaf towards a group of four Koffings and a Kadabra. The Rocket Pokémon were too slow to avoid the onslaught of the razor-sharp leaves, but the Poison-typing of the Koffings allowed them to survive with only moderate damage. The Kadabra, on the other hand, was not so fortunate. It took the full brunt of the attacks, which was made worse by the fact that both attacks scored critical hits on the Kadabra. The Psychic-type Pokémon fell to the hail of leaves, many of them cutting into its body, inflicting serious wounds upon it.

Closer to Ash, Butch and Cassidy's Nidoqueen and Nidoking rampaged towards Ash and preparing to use Superpower on him, but two streams of water emitted from Ash's Blastoise ended their charge, propelling them backwards and into two Rocket grunts. The grunts were forced into the wall, where they were flattened, with the Pokémon being rendered unconscious.

Back behind Ash and Mia, Ash's friends from his past adventures that were present emerged from their cover and decided that it was time to join the fight. They tossed their Poké Balls into the air and cried, "Everyone, come on out!"

Their Poké Balls opened and a plethora of Pokémon emerged from their Poké Balls and immediately launched an assault on the Team Rocket Pokémon and grunts. Team Rocket's Pokémon were caught off guard and over a dozen of them were felled in the first wave of attacks. A Blizzard of snowflakes emerged from the mouth of a tan cat-like Pokémon with a purple collar, and scored a direct hit on two Golbats and a four Rocket grunts. The Golbats sustained significant damage from the Blizzard attack while the Rockets were frozen solid. With the Rockets having been taken down, May's Pokémon were now free to focus on the remaining Pokémon of the felled Rockets. They used a variety of attacks to deal with the few remaining enemies. Once they were dealt with, they continued to search for more enemies, or allies who needed assistance against Team Rocket.

Not too far away, Dawn was assisting in the fighting when she commanded, "Pachirisu, Mamoswine, target the Zubats and Golbats now! Piplup, you go for the Rocket grunts and the Drowzees! The rest of you, pick your targets and go!"

Her Pokémon obeyed and launched their assault on Team Rocket, supporting Ash and Mia in the fight, along with the other guests. Pachirisu unleashed a volley of blue lightning bolts that struck all nearby Zubats and Golbats, electricity arcing across their bodies as they gave cries of pain and then fell to the ground, unconscious. Mamoswine, assisted Pachirisu by unleashing a Blizzard attack on several other Zubats and Golbats, encasing them in ice. The attack also managed to reach a Rocket grunt and encase him in ice as well. While Pachirisu and Mamoswine attacking the Zubats, Golbats, and a Rocket grunt, Piplup unleashed a Hydro Pump at a Rocket grunt who had drawn a gun and was pointing it towards Dawn. The jet of water erupted from Piplup's beak and scored a direct hit on the grunt, sending him flying into another grunt. The two struck the ground and gave a groan before they rose to target the small penguin-like Pokémon and his Trainer. Before they could fire, though, a blue energy beam struck the first grunt in the arm that was holding the gun. Immediately upon the beam's impact, a sheet of ice formed over the Rocket's arm and expanded until the Rocket was fully encased in ice. The second Rocket dove away from the first, hoping to avoid the fate of his comrade, and right into a Fire Blast attack from Mia's Chandelure, instantly reducing him to ashes. Mia, holding the gun she had procured from one of the now deceased Rocket grunts searched for another target, and found one in the form of a Kadabra. She opened fire with her and a blue beam of energy emerged from the barrel of the gun and lashed out at the Kadabra. The Kadabra was too slow in raising a Light Screen and the beam scored a direct hit. A plate of ice formed around the chest of the Kadabra and quickly expanded until it encased the entire Pokémon. After a few seconds, the Kadabra had been reduced to an ice statue.

From the rear lines, Domino watched in shock as her forces were being routed by Leaf, Ash, and the other Trainers at the party. She watched as May pointed towards a Drowzee and her Fire/Fighting type Pokémon, Blaziken, a bipedal rooster-like Pokémon that also looked to be humanoid, unleashed a strong Fire Punch on the Drowzee, the flaming fist striking the Drowzee squarely in the chest, sending it reeling backwards several feet. Blaziken finished off the Drowzee with a stream of flame emitted from its mouth. The flames washed over Drowzee and knocked it unconscious. Elsewhere, Tracey directed his Venonat, a purple furred bug-like Pokémon with red bug-like eyes; Azumarill, a blue and white ovoid mammalian Pokémon with long blue ears; and Scizor, a bipedal bug-like Pokémon with a red metallic exoskeleton and claws that resembled those of a crab against a group of Koffings and a Weezing. Looking around the battlefield, so far, none of Leaf's, Ash's, or any of the guests' Pokémon had been killed, fainted, or seriously injured in the fighting. She soon saw another Rocket grunt get frozen solid by a blast Mia's new freeze gun, and shattered by a punch from Tyranitar. Looking around, she saw that she only had eight grunts that were still able to fight, not counting Jessie, James, and Meowth, who were currently on lookout duty to make sure that there was no surprise attack initiated against them from any other quarter. The last thing that Domino was worried about right now, though, was a surprise attack from Cynthia or Lance.

Seeing that the situation was rapidly deteriorating, she realized that she needed to do something, and fast. Otherwise, this battle would end in a slaughter that Team Rocket might never recover from, especially given the losses in the captures of the various Legendary Pokémon. Glancing around the battlefield, she noticed several of the cooks and other guests, likely family friends that were not Pokémon Trainers hiding behind the tables. Soon, she caught sight of Professor Oak and Delia Ketchum who was sitting next to him, taking cover behind the table, trying to stay out of the way of the fighting. She looked over at them and saw her studying Ash carefully. She looked over at Ash and caught sight of Leaf looking back at the Delia and Professor Oak at regular intervals. It was obvious that Delia was important to Leaf, but Delia was focusing on Ash, despite the fact that he was merely directing his Pokémon in battle while still in cover, while Leaf was taking an active role in the fighting. She then noticed a faint resemblance between Delia and Leaf. Change the hair and eye color, and make Delia thirteen, and she would be dead ringer for Leaf. A sinister grin then crossed Domino's face. She had them. She could still salvage the situation and, while the losses sustained by Team Rocket would be heavy, she had a chance to kill the current and former World Pokémon League Champion and two Grand Festival winners.

As Mia and the others were focusing on dealing with the remaining grunts and their Pokémon, she quickly went over to Butch, Cassidy, and told them, "You two with me." Turning to two of the remaining Team Rocket grunts, she ordered, "Cover us. We may have a way to end this fight in our favor."

"Yes ma'am," the Rockets replied as they fled from Domino and, drawing their guns, opened fire on Ash, Mia, and the Pokémon that were close to them, Charizard, Pikachu, and Tyranitar, quickly being joined by their Koffings, a Weezing, and a Drowzee, who also launched attacks on the Pokémon and Trainers. Bullets, balls of sludge, and psychic energy waves were unleashed towards the heroes, forcing them to take cover or risk severe injury. After the initial volley of attacks were finished, Mia, Charizard, Pikachu, and Tyranitar launched their counterattack. Charizard unleashed a massive stream of fire on the Weezing as it readied a Sludge Bomb. The fire ignited the sludge and the fire traveled back into Weezing's mouth, causing it to explode among the Rockets and the other Pokémon. The Weezing was rendered unconscious, with one of the Rocket grunts being killed, and two Koffings also suffering severe damage. Pikachu's Thunderbolt barrage finished off the two Koffings while Tyranitar's Stone Edge knocked out the Drowzee. Mia finished the remaining Rocket grunt with a blast from her freeze gun. Ash could only marvel as he saw Mia's affinity for combat firsthand and was surprised, and also a little concerned to see that she was not only good at fighting, but also seemed to enjoy it.

As Mia and the others were fighting, Domino, Butch, and Cassidy went over to Delia and Professor Oak, who were still hiding behind the table, not wanting to get involved in the fighting and become a liability. They ran up to Delia and Professor Oak and Domino grabbed Delia, pushing her to the her knees with Domino drawing a strange pistol with what looked to be two diodes on the end of a barrel, holding it to her head while Butch grabbed Professor Oak and Cassidy drew a regular gun and held it to his head. Looking out at the scene, Domino called out, "Ash, Leaf, surrender now!"

Ash and Mia looked around for a second, trying to determine where the voice was coming from and soon found Domino holding Delia by the neck, pressing a gun to her head, as well as Butch and Cassidy holding a gun to Professor Oak's head as well. "Surrender now, or your mother and Professor Oak die!" Domino declared.

"Mom!" both Ash and Mia cried out reflexively as they stared into their mother's eyes, the fear for their mother's safety evident on their face. Domino merely grinned sadistically as she stared back at them. Delia, meanwhile, forgot that she was being held captive and stared back at Mia, whose voice she had heard along with her son's, almost gasping when she heard their cry. "Mom?" she asked, wondering why Leaf was calling her 'Mom'. Suddenly, memories came flooding back to her of not only Mia, but also of her husband. There were still blanks, but she knew now that Mia was her daughter. She stared into the eyes of the girl that had become so close to her son and she suddenly realized why she was now so close to Ash.

While Domino had made her threat to Ash's mother, Dawn, May, and Tracey were about to order their Pokémon to attack Domino and the other Rockets when Ash stopped them, calling, "Don't. I've encountered Domino before. She doesn't make idle threats. Let us take the lead on this one!"

The others, seeing the situation, begrudgingly backed down and waited to see what Ash and Leaf would do. Despite how the battle had been going, and the fact that if the fighting continued, that Team Rocket would almost certainly lose, things looked bad now, for if they did continue to fight, the cost to Ash would be too high.

Domino looked down at Ash and Mia and, noticing Mia's reaction to the capture of Delia and gave a satisfied smile. "So, my suspicions about you two were correct," Domino commented. "You _are_ twins." She paused before turning to Ash and continuing, "And that means that _you_ are the one that we couldn't capture five years ago. Do you remember?"

Ash did not know what Domino was talking about, but he remembered her from an adventure he had in Johto with a Legendary Pokémon known as Mewtwo. She had been willing to kill clone babies to get Mewtwo to surrender to Team Rocket, so he knew that she would be more than willing to kill his mother if he did not comply with her demands.

After a few moments, Domino spoke once more. "It seems like you don't. Ah well, it doesn't really matter anyway. All that matters is that I have your mother and Professor Oak. If you surrender yourselves and your Pokémon, your mother and Professor Oak will live. If you don't, well, you know the rest," she said with a sadistic chuckle.

"No don't," Mia pleaded, but she knew that she could not risk prompting Domino to take drastic actions. Eventually, she dropped the freeze gun and turned back to her Pokémon, ordering, "Stand down."

Tyranitar, Venusaur, and the others gasped and looked back at her, their shock evident on their faces. They could scarcely believe what they had heard. They then focused back on the remaining members of Team Rocket and their Pokémon, ready for action.

"I mean it!" Mia yelled forcefully. "I won't risk letting Mom die! Now, stand down!"

Upon hearing the volume and the severity of her tone, her Pokémon eventually stood down and knelt down on the ground, those that had knees. As for Ash, he was already looking back at his Pokémon, shaking his head sadly, prompting them to stand down as well. As the Pokémon stood down, Domino gloated, cooing, "Good. Now, you may have extended Mrs. Ketchum and Professor Oak's lives a few more seconds…" she then grinned as she turned to Mia, continuing, "…but, unfortunately for you, you're about to…" but she never finished her sentence, for a green pulse of energy, accompanied by a popping sound, blew through Domino's head right between her eyes. Domino never knew what killed her, nor that she was in any danger. She merely dropped her gun and slumped over, releasing Delia from her grip, and fell to the floor, her eyes open and her sadistic grin still engraved on her face.

The death of Domino was the cue for everyone to start fighting once again. However, Ash, Mia, and their friends were faster to react than Team Rocket. Mia picked up her freeze gun and fired on a Rocket grunt, the blue energy beam freezing him solid. Checking the energy level of the gun, she found that it was running low on power so she quickly went over to the corpse of Domino and grabbed her gun. Checking on Professor Oak, she saw him struggle against his captors and manage to break away for a second. Delia then rushed towards Professor Oak and lowered her shoulder as she barreled into Butch, knocking him off his feet, and into Cassidy. Both Rockets gave a cry as fell to the ground in a heap as Professor Oak and Delia ran for cover behind a table. One Rocket grunt leveled a gun at the two adults, but another green laser blast struck him between the eyes, drilling a hole in the center of his head, and took him out. Mia glanced behind the Rockets and saw a figure off in the distance outside the hotel. She could not make out any identifying features to the figure, but it was clear that he was human, or at least humanoid. For a second, she wondered if it was her father. She did not dwell on the question, though, for there were still Team Rocket soldiers left to deal with.

She turned and saw another grunt focusing on her brother. She heard him yell, "Hey champ, time to end your short reign," as he leveled a futuristic looking gun at Ash. Mia opened fire on the grunt, a blue blast of lightning emerging from her newly acquired weapon. The blast of lightning struck the Rocket in the back. His body spasmed upon taking the strike and he squeezed the trigger of his weapon, which issued a green pulse of energy that sailed well over Ash's head. The Rocket fell then fell to the ground, either unconscious or dead. Neither Mia, nor Ash, took the time to examine whether or not the Rocket had died. They merely realized that they needed to deal with the other Rockets as quickly as possible. Mia then went over to the fallen Rocket that had tried to shoot Ash and she took his Ray Gun, adding it to her collection.

Meanwhile, Butch and Cassidy were slow to rise and rejoin the battle. They scanned the battlefield and watched another Rocket grunt get taken down by a Thunderbolt launched by Pikachu. Taking out a small radio, Cassidy activated it and screamed over the din of the fighting, "Jessie, James, Meowth, get back into the hall right now! We need you!"

"But Domino ordered us to keep watch for any reinforcements," Jessie countered.

"Domino's dead!" Butch cried as another Rocket grunt was sent sailing over his head courtesy of a Hydro Pump unleashed by Ash's Blastoise. "We're hemorrhaging troops and Pokémon! We need you all in here now!"

"Right," they heard the voices of Jessie, James, and Meowth confirm.

Butch and Cassidy knew that the arrival of Jessie, James, and Meowth would likely not be enough to turn the tide, but if they could launch a surprise attack on the party, then they might get lucky and take down either Ash or Mia, making the mission not a complete failure. Still, they decided that it would be best to coordinate from the rear, considering that most of their Pokémon were out of action, or worse.

It did not take long for Jessie, James, and Meowth to enter the hall. Upon doing so, they gasped at the sight as they saw many Rocket grunts and Pokémon lying on the floor, either unconscious or dead. They witnessed Mia's Garchomp quickly take down a Kadabra with a Dragon Claw attack, while Ash's Donphan used Stone Edge to take down a Crobat. They quickly deployed their Pokémon: Swoobat, a bat-like Pokémon that had a teal head, pink snout with heart-shaped nostrils, and pointed ears; Wobbuffet, a tall, light blue blob-like creature with a black tail with eye spots and flipper-like arms; Seviper, a pretty large snake-like Pokémon with two long red fangs, a black body with a variety of markings on its body, primarily yellow hexagon-shaped ones, a blade-like tail; and Yanmega, a large green dragonfly-like Pokémon with red eyes and red spots on all of its segments, for Jessie, while James released a Cofagrigus, a Pokémon that was a blue and yellow sarcophagus with red eyes and four black shadowy hands; a Mr. Mime, a Pokémon that resembled a mime with a round white body and a red spot in its middle, thin arms with white gloved hands with five fingers at the end, thin legs with shoes that curl back up at the end, and dark blue frizzy hair; and Carnivine, a green Venus Flytrap-like Pokémon that had leaf-like arms, and a red and green vines underneath it that fulfilled the purpose of legs that resembled tentacles.

Jessie and James's Pokémon all entered the fray and attempted to make a difference in the fighting, but their inclusion was too little, too late. Swoobat and Cofagrigus never had a chance to even do any fighting, for immediately upon their deployment, Mia identified them and targeted them with her freeze gun and lightning gun. A blue beam of freezing energy erupted from the gun and scored a direct hit on Swoobat as it was about to face off against Ash's Venusaur. Ice expanded from Swoobat's face and spread until the whole Pokémon was encased in ice. Swoobat then fell out of the air and to the ground where it miraculously did not shatter. Cofagrigus fared little better as it suffered a direct hit from Mia's new lightning gun, the bolt of lightning scoring a direct hit on its center of mass. The blast sent the sarcophagus-like Pokémon rocketing backwards and into the wall, where it collided with said wall, leaving a series of cracks in it, and slid to the ground, unconscious. Jessie's Seviper then entered the fray, launching a volley of small poisonous needles from its mouth directly at Mia. Mia dove out of the way of the needles, but the Pokémon was not finished. It quickly lunged for the girl, but Mia was too fast. She jumped over its lunge and landed directly on the Pokémon's back. She then performed a roundhouse kick to the Pokémon's head, knocking it to the ground. A shot from her freeze gun then froze the Pokémon solid, bringing a swift end to the fight. Jessie and James promptly recalled the defeated Pokémon back into their Poké Balls. Their expressions showed that they were beginning to realize just how badly the battle was going for them.

The rest of Jessie and James's Pokémon fared no better, each of them not only going up against superior Pokémon, but also against superior numbers. Mr. Mime and Carnivine both tried to take down Tyranitar, with Mr. Mime using psychic, with predictable results, and Carnivine fired a Bullet Seed spread that should have been super effective, due to Tyranitar's part Rock typing, but was next to useless due to the radical difference in strength between the two. Tyranitar used Pursuit on Mr. Mime and instantly appeared in front of the Psychic-type Pokémon and, with a single punch, sent him flying into the wall. Turning to Carnivine, a single Stone Edge barrage was enough to take down the Grass-type Pokémon. Yanmega was also quickly taken down by a single Flamethrower attack from Ash's Charizard, leaving only Wobbuffet standing.

Jessie and James knew that things were looking bad. Seeing Pokémon after Pokémon for Team Rocket fall, along with a few more grunts, they knew that the mission was a failure. There was no way that they would be able to deal with Ash and Leaf. Things were about to get worse, for the roar of a Dragonite sounded as a Hyper Beam came blasting through the opening in the door and struck a Hypno directly in the back, knocking the Pokémon unconscious at the very least. The orange bipedal European dragon-like Pokémon flew through the entrance to the hall with Lance flying on top of it. Lance was quickly followed by a Garchomp, who took down a Koffing and a Weezing with a single Dragon Claw swipe. Following Garchomp was Cynthia. Things had just gone from bad to worse. One of the few remaining grunts knew that there was no way that Team Rocket would be able to accomplish its objective. There was no need to waste more troops in a losing battle. Going to Jessie and James, who were standing near Butch and Cassidy, and were now the ranking Rocket Agents, he said, "Sir and ma'am, we have to retreat now!"

"What are you guys talkin' about?" Butch roared. "We have a mission to accomplish!"

"Butch, sir, Domino is dead," one of the few remaining grunts blurted. "We also suffered heavy losses in the captures of the various Legendary Pokémon, and we're down to eight grunts with maybe two Pokémon per grunt. We have to withdraw immediately!"

"He's right!" another Rocket agreed. "Leaf's too strong, has too many friends, and we've lost too many troops. We have to cut our losses and go!"

"We were given a mission and I intend to accomplish it!" Cassidy yelled, supporting Butch.

"With respect, sir and ma'am, we're gettin' slaughtered here!" another Rocket interrupted. "The boss needs troops, not rotting corpses."

Butch and Cassidy were about to disagree, but Jessie and James cut in, saying, "The grunts are right. We can't do anything more here. We must withdraw our forces at once."

"Are you serious?" Cassidy yelled to Jessie. "You're gonna go back to the boss and say that we didn't manage to take down a single enemy Trainer or Pokémon?"

"It's better than gettin' killed," Meowth retorted.

"I agree," James echoed.

"Then it's settled," Jessie declared. "As ranking Rocket Agent, I'm ordering all of our forces to pull out at once." She then called out to the rest of the Rockets, ordering, "All Team Rocket forces, withdraw at once!"

The remaining Rockets looked back at Jessie, scarcely believing that Jessie and James were now in charge of the mission. Still, they were glad that the new field commanders were giving the order to retreat, for they knew how dire the situation was. They had no problems recalling their Pokémon and retreating as quickly as possible.

As the Rockets were recalling their Pokémon, Mia pulled out some small tags and placed them on one of the retreating Rocket grunts. One of the final grunts, not realizing that he was tagged, drew out a smoke bomb and tossed it back towards Mia and her Pokémon. The bomb detonated and a large cloud of smoke erupted from the bomb upon its detonation. The cloud of smoke covered Mia and she closed her eyes and held her breath so as to not breathe in any of the cloud. While the smoke was obscuring the vision of the heroes, the remaining Team Rocket forces quickly fled from the hall and out of the hotel, not realizing that they had been tagged. Of the forty plus Team Rocket grunts and agents that had launched the attack on the party, only six managed to escape, not counting Jessie, James and Meowth.

Back at the hotel, Ash's Swellow and Staraptor used Gust to blow away the smoke and clear the area. Once the smoke dissipated, they found an empty hall, save for the grunts, both living and dead, and the Pokémon that had been defeated. Cynthia and Lance examined the scene and the blond haired woman said, "I'll call the police to pick up and detain the survivors." Turning to Mia, she asked, "Did you manage to tag the Rockets?"

Mia nodded, smiling, and pulled out a small handheld device which showed a map of the area. A small red dot appeared on the map and appeared to be moving. "You stay here and protect my mom and the others. I'm going to follow the Rockets and finish them off." With that, Mia rushed after the retreating Rockets.

Ash, having witnessed Mia going off in pursuit of the Team Rocket survivors and called out, "Wait!"

Mia did not stop as she jumped onto Garchomp and he rocketed into the air as she followed after Team Rocket. Before he went off to chase after her, he turned back to his mother and Professor Oak and told them, "I know there's a lot that needs to be said, and I will when I get back, but right now I have to go help Mia deal with Team Rocket once and for all."

As he went off to chase after Mia, Delia called out to him, "Be careful honey! Both of you," she added quietly. "And come back alive!"

He looked back at her and smiled. "Don't worry. We will," he assured her as he jumped onto Charizard's back, telling Charizard, "Go after Mia and Garchomp. We have to help her deal with Team Rocket."

Charizard gave a smile and a small rumble of satisfaction as he rocketed into the air and rushed off after Ash's sister.

Back at the hotel, as Lance and Cynthia were rounding up the last of the surviving Rockets, Ash's friends finished administering to their Pokémon's needs. Once they were finished, they began to line up and made their way towards the hotel's exit. They were not going let Ash and Mia face down Team Rocket all on their own. While they were taking care of their Pokémon, Delia made her way towards the exit. She was quickly noticed by Lance, who went over to her and asked, "Mrs. Ketchum, may I ask where you are going?"

"I'm going to help my children," she answered sternly.

"You alone?" he asked, his voice full of surprise. "But you don't have any Pokémon or weapons."

"She won't be going alone," May declared forcefully, joining her friend's mother.

"We'll go too," Dawn stated, stepping forward with May. They were soon joined by Tracey who echoed May and Dawn's sentiments. Ash's Pokémon that had not gone with him after the battle also stepped forward and stood next to Delia. In addition, Ash's mother stooped down and picked up a discarded weapon, a Ray Gun that must have been dropped during the battle by one of the Rocket grunts. She checked the weapon's power level and flicked the safety to on, then off again. It was obvious that this was not her first time around a firearm before.

Lance gave a kind smile. "Be careful, then," he cautioned. "As this battle indicated, this isn't the Team Rocket you're likely used to facing. These Rockets won't hold back against you because you are children. They'll kill you if they get the chance. Don't give them that chance."

"We won't," each of the kids and Delia said in unison.

With that, they proceeded to leave the hotel, Delia leading the way, followed by Ash's Gigalith, a large rock-like Pokémon, who listened for any sign of Ash. Once Gigalith managed to find him, it pointed straight ahead, indicating Ash's direction. The others then charged forward, knowing that Ash and Mia had a significant head start.

Meanwhile, not far away from the hotel, the man that had watched the battle between Ash and Mia, as well as had been spying on them as they went towards the hotel looked on in grim satisfaction, still holding the gray Ray Gun that he had used to take down Domino. He was no longer dressed in his usual red jacket and jeans, but wore a black suit over his body that looked to be a custom made Kevlar C and spider silk weave shirt and pants. He looked on as Ash, Mia, and the others finished the fight and forced the rest of the Rockets to retreat. He watched as Mia went off to follow the Rockets, and also saw Ash give chase as well. His eyes flashed in surprise and fear. This was not what he wanted. He had learned of Team Rocket's successful capture of several Legendary Pokémon and knew that Ash and Mia would be hard-pressed to fight them if they had to engage them in a battle. There were also the standard grunts that still had to be dealt with, too.

He was about to put on a mask and go after them when he heard a familiar hum behind him. Turning around, he saw Ganondorf coming towards him. "What are you about to do?" the Gerudo King asked.

"I have to keep those kids away from Team Rocket," the man answered.

"Why?" Ganondorf retorted.

"Because it would interfere with our plans," came the response.

Ganondorf gave a laugh. "Actually no, it wouldn't," he stated. "Their attempt to take down Giovanni could turn out to be very useful."

"How? They can't take on a small army of Legendary Pokémon!"

"That's what their friends are for," Ganondorf laughed. "Which reminds me, I have to go now. I'll leave you to your mission." Before leaving, though, he finished, "One more thing, John."

"What is it?" John asked.

"I need to know that you have no attachments to anyone in this world."

John gave a grim look towards the Gerudo King. "Don't worry," he said coldly. "I have none."

Ganondorf gave one more laugh before he departed from John's presence. Once the Gerudo King had left, the human gritted his teeth and stood there. He had a mission to accomplish, but he knew that he needed to help out his children as well, for they would not stand a chance against an army of Legendary Pokémon, especially after already having had to fight an army of Rocker grunts and normal Pokémon. He took out a scanner and scanned the area to see if Ganondorf was still around, spying on him. Once he was sure that the Gerudo King was gone, he put on the mask and rushed after Ash and Mia in an attempt to stop them from falling into what could very well be Giovanni's trap. He did not notice his wife and his son's friends leave the hotel and rush off to support Ash and Mia.

Meanwhile, sitting inside the building in the small, deserted town, the mysterious figure had watched as Team Rocket had launched its failed attack on the hotel. He saw Domino die, as well as the Rockets get routed. Seeing Mia, then Ash, leave to pursue Team Rocket, and then have their friends follow after, he grinned. He knew that there was no way that Team Rocket would be able to emerge from this battle victoriously, despite the acquisition of numerous Legendary Pokémon. Ash and his friends simply had too many powerful Pokémon of their own. The Lake Trio might be troublesome, but Mia's Tyranitar and Ash's Scrafty would be able to handle them due to their typing, and Ash had other Pokémon that could give Legendaries a fight. This was the perfect scenario for him, for even with Giovanni's own arrangements, some of which the figure had made under the guise of being a Team Rocket Officer, unknown to Giovanni, there was no way that he would be able to hold off the coming onslaught without help. Even if the fleeing Rockets stood their ground and fought, they would at best slow down Ash and Mia, and eventually get overrun by their allies. Then there would be nothing standing between them and Giovanni. He grinned once more. It was time for him to go to work and stand at Giovanni's side. Suddenly, his cloak disappeared and in the place of the hooded figure was a tall man wearing a Team Rocket uniform. He was tall, and had brown hair and red eyes. Once everything was ready, he departed the building and headed towards Team Rocket Headquarters. Hopefully, with his help, Ash and his friends would be in grave danger. And then, there would only be one hope for them: the arrival of Mewtwo, one of two soldiers who had killed the mysterious figure's children. Soon, he would have his revenge.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Ash rode on Charizard's back as he rushed after his sister, showing no signs of slowing down or strain. Looking off into the distance, he could see the faint figure of Mia's Garchomp as it rocketed away from them. He looked into the sky and saw a flight of five jetpacks off in the distance. He figured that they had to belong to Team Rocket. Given his experiences, he knew that Jessie, James, and Meowth were flying three of them, and strongly suspected that Butch and Cassidy were flying the other two. However, he remembered that Mia had not tagged any of them, only managing to tag one of the four remaining grunts instead. He hoped that it would not turn out to be a mistake. Given how fast she and her Garchomp were traveling, though, he suspected that she would be able to keep up with the fleeing Rockets. Still, he did not want to waste time lagging behind. "Hurry up, Charizard," he spurred, strongly patting Charizard's neck. "We have to catch up to Mia before she's too far out of sight."

Charizard gave a shrug and a grunt as he flapped his wings and rocketed off even faster towards Mia.

Not too far ahead, Mia spurred her Garchomp to accelerate towards the Rockets as well. Looking behind her, she saw Ash slowly closing the gap. She gave a sad sigh as he began to approach. She knew that Ash would want to join, and that his help would be beneficial. The problem would be when she confronted Giovanni and/or any of the other Rocket Executives. She intended to eliminate Giovanni's threat any way she could, even if that meant using deadly force against him, something she knew that Ash would object to. She did not want him to see her darker side firsthand. Even more, though, she did not want to risk him getting captured, injured, or killed in the fighting. He was not used to fighting the real Team Rocket, only the Blunder Brigade, as she had heard Giovanni refer to Jessie, James, and Meowth before. Still, she knew that he would not shy away from helping her, so she had to make sure that she managed to find the Rocket base and hope that reinforcements would arrive quickly if things got out of hand. "Stay alert, Garchomp," she urged. "The closer we get to the Rocket base, the greater the chances are that we'll run into stronger resistance.

Garchomp nodded as it continued to fly forward. Garchomp looked back and grunted, as if asking whether or not it should attack any of the groups, particularly Butch and Cassidy or Jessie, James, and Meowth.

"No," Mia answered, shaking her head. "We need to track the Rockets back to their base. They'll do us no good dead just yet."

Garchomp nodded and continued to follow the Rockets, backing off a bit, though, as if to make it look like he was getting a little tired.

A few hundred yards ahead, the Rocket Brothers looked back and saw Mia catching up to them. Despite the fact that the distance between the two groups was closing, they noticed that neither Mia, nor Garchomp, were launching any attacks on them. Soon, they saw Mia and Garchomp back off a bit, almost as if they did not want to be too close, but not too far away to trace them, either. "Blast it," one of the Rocket Brothers seethed. They knew that something was wrong. Pushing the buttons on small devices on the collars of their shirts, they reported to the other two fleeing teams, "Jessie, James, Butch, Cassidy, we've got a problem. We're bein' chased by Leaf, but she's not attacking. I think she's tryin' to follow us back to base."

"We hear you loud'n'clear," Cassidy responded over the speakers. Looking down at the scene, and back at her pursuers, she confirmed that Mia was making no attempts to attack. Instead, she seemed to be backing off a little, wanting to make sure that they did not notice her attempts to follow them.

Jessie and James also stopped to take a look at the scene. "Looks like you're right." The trio continued to observe Mia and informed the Rocket Brothers, "She's backing off," when Mia held back so as to get some distance between the two groups. "What do you want us to do?"

"How are your Pokémon?" one of the Brothers asked.

"Not good, why?" Cassidy asked.

"Because we've gotta get back to base and warn Giovanni that Leaf's almost certainly comin' to get him," the leader of the Brothers explained. "But if we're followed, then Leaf'll be able to relay the base's location back to the others and they'll be able to launch a coordinated attack against us. You've gotta hold them off for a bit while we make the escape and warn Giovanni to get out of there. Our radios were destroyed in the fighting at the hotel so we can't talk to him by radio."

"Are you serious?" Cassidy blurted. "Flygon's about all we have left that's in fighting condition! He's no match for either of the kids. We have a few Revives for some of the others, but I wouldn't put money on them being able to stop Ash or Leaf."

"Let us report back to da boss," Meowth volunteered.

"What?" the Rocket Brothers blurted. "Why you?"

"Because we don't have any Pokémon still able to fight," James answered in sagely. "All we have is Wobbuffet and Meowth, none of which are going to be of any use against the twerp or twerpette."

The Rocket Brothers grunted. They did not like the situation at all. They suspected that one of their teams had been tagged with a tracking device of some sort, but they did not know which one it was. They doubted that it was Jessie and James, for they had entered the battle in the hotel late and had not fought Ash and Mia before they ordered the retreat. Besides, they wanted Jessie and James to explain why the retreat order was given, despite the fact that it had been a good decision at the time. Eventually, the Rocket Brothers' leader suggested, "Jessie, James, Meowth, you all head back to base as fast as possible and alert Giovanni to the situation. We've got some Pokémon to slow down Ash and Leaf, but we won't last long powerful Pokémon like theirs."

"We'll stay with you and fight, too," Cassidy said for both herself and Butch, which drew a gasp from her teammate.

"We will?" Butch blurted.

"Yes," Cassidy replied. "I've got some Max Revives for our Pokémon. Besides, we still have other options," she added with a sinister grin.

Butch then grinned. "I forgot," he said, echoing her dark tone.

"Yeah," Cassidy continued. "Besides, I want another chance at killing Leaf."

"It's settled, then," the Rocket Brothers said. "Jessie, James, Meowth, we know you're in charge right now, with the death of Domino, but you're the best bet to relay what happened back to Giovanni and to tell him to prepare to evacuate the base. We'll stay back and try to hold off Leaf and Ash."

"Right," came the response from the trio. They then accelerated and were soon out of sight as Butch, Cassidy, and the Rocket Brothers stopped and turned, facing back towards Ash and Mia, who were fast approaching.

As soon as they stopped, Butch and Cassidy landed and let out their stronger Pokémon, Hypno, Charizard, Aggron, and Mismagius and used their Max Revives to revive them. Once the potions were administered, the Pokémon sprang up and looked around, wondering what was going on. Seeing the two young teens and their Pokémon coming towards them, Butch and Cassidy explained the situation. "Those two teens are not to pass us. We're here to stop them and, if possible, kill them. Do you understand?"

The Pokémon nodded, each of them grinning sadistically.

"Okay then, go!" the two Rockets commanded. With that, the Pokémon launched themselves towards Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon.

Ash and Mia had been hanging back so they could allow the Rockets to escape and lead them to Team Rocket's base, but they soon slowed down. Mia looked up and saw that Butch and Cassidy had also slowed down and seemed to be planning something while Jessie, James, and Meowth accelerated off into the distance. Butch, Cassidy, and the Rocket Brothers, though, came to a halt and turned around. She grimaced as the Rocket Brothers turned and she realized that they may have spotted her tracking device. She told Garchomp, "Garchomp, use Earthquake when we get close. After that, use Dragon Claw to take down Charizard."

Garchomp nodded and gave a grunt of confirmation. He then charged towards the Rockets, who were regrouping. As soon as they neared the Rockets, Garchomp stomped on the ground. The ground shook and large cracks began to appear. The Rocket Brothers lost their balance before they could even release any of their Pokémon and they fell to the ground, their Poké Balls knocked from their belts. A few of the balls opened and an Alakazam, Drowzee, Koffing, Crobat, Mightyena, and a Machop, a bluish-gray skinned humanoid Pokémon with a muscled body that resembled a human child in passing emerged from the Poké Balls. While they had been emerging, though, the Earthquake had knocked down Aggron and Hypno, though only Aggron had fainted. Charging towards Charizard, Garchomp slashed at the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon with Dragon Claw. Glowing claws raked the face of Charizard and the dragon was knocked to the ground, red streaks marring its face. Once they were knocked out of the way, Mia continued to chase down Jessie, James, and Meowth. It would take too long for the Pokémon to recover for them to be able to chase her down once more so she was not worried about having to face them. Besides, Ash could finish them off for her.

Not too far ahead, Jessie and James continued to head towards Team Rocket's headquarters, flying into a small town with a few tall buildings. Turning around, they saw that Mia was still in hot pursuit of them. "Great," Jessie seethed. "The newest twerpette has already caught up."

"We'll never get back to base without being followed," James said. "And we don't have the power to hold her off."

Seeing that there was nothing to lose, Jessie and James pulled out two Poké Balls and cried, "Wobbuffet go!"

"Mr. Mime, you go, too!" James cried, grimacing. He did not like sending out Mr. Mime to try to slow down Mia and Ash after the pounding he had taken at the hands of Mia's Tyranitar, but he knew that it was their only chance to slow them down.

"Get out there and slow down those twerps," Jessie commanded.

Wobbuffet gave a cry of affirmation and a salute as it turned to face down the onrushing Mia and Garchomp. Mr. Mime also joined them, and raised his hands as if to create a massive barrier. However, James issued no orders. Jessie, annoyed at how James's Mr. Mime was merely standing there, turned to her companion and demanded, "What the heck are you doing? Tell Mr. Mime to raise a Reflect barrier at once! We can't let her follow us back to base!"

"But Mr. Mime won't survive the battle," James retorted. "Leaf and her Pokémon have used deadly force against us before and don't discriminate between human or Pokémon. It'll be suicide for him to fight her, especially with the damage he's already taken."

"Wobbuffet's also out there," Jessie countered desperately. "I know that chances are that they'll definitely lose, and possibly even die, but we have to do this. Leaf's too strong and she's beaten the boss before on numerous occasions. We can't let her get the chance to do so again!"

Both Rockets turned to see Garchomp barreling straight towards them when the Pokémon suddenly stopped in its tracks as if it had just run into a wall. The Rocket Trio gasped at the sight and, upon further inspection, saw that it was not so much that Garchomp had run into a wall, it was that Garchomp was being pulled away from Team Rocket. Looking past the Mach Pokémon, the trio saw Mismagius, its eyes glowing. "Go," the Rocket Brothers cried out. "Get out of here! We'll deal with Leaf!"

"Right," the trio responded in unison. They then activated their jetpacks once more and rocketed off into the air, but not before Mia had Garchomp launch a Hyper Beam towards them. The red and white energy beam struck the ground close to the trio just as they were taking off and threw up a cloud of dust. While they were obscured, Mia let Chandelure out of its Poké Ball and whispered, "Telepathically lock onto the minds of the Rocket Trio. Once we get past the Rocket Brothers and Butch and Cassidy, we'll follow them."

Chandelure bobbed up and down as if affirming her order. She then turned to face down the Mismagius that had stopped her from following the Rockets and unclipped the rest of her Poké Balls from her belt. Tossing them into the air, she cried, "Come out everyone! It's time!"

All of her remaining Poké Balls opened in midair and released the rest of her Pokémon, each of them landing on the ground with a thud.

Butch, Cassidy, rocketed towards the fray, the rest of their Pokémon joining them, and they commanded, "Everyone, attack Leaf and her Pokémon! Hold nothing back!"

Charizard was the first to attack by launching a vicious Fire Blast towards Venusaur. The human-shaped blast of fire rocketed towards the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon, but never reached its target, for a stream of water launched from Starmie extinguished the flame in an instant, creating an intense burst of steam, obscuring both parties, each team halting their attacks for the time being. It was then that the Psychic-types of both parties linked their minds to their comrades so they could see through the steam. Unfortunately, Starmie was unable to link its mind with Tyranitar due to his part Dark typing, giving Butch and Cassidy's Pokémon a temporary advantage. However, Hypno could not sense Tyranitar, either, and the Rock/Dark-type had acute senses that allowed it to spot the enemy Hypno.

Both teams opened the real fighting with sleep-inducing attacks. Butch yelled over to Hypno, "Hypno, use Hypnosis!"

Hypno nodded, saying, "Hypno," in confirmation as it began to wave its pendulum. However, Venusaur, both being faster than Hypno naturally, as well as not being bogged down by having to wait for Mia to issue a command, unleashed a cloud of Sleep Powder first. The greater effectiveness of the Sleep Powder cloud allowed it to cover Hypno before it could complete its attempt to hypnotize Venusaur and the Psychic-type Pokémon fell asleep, curling up on the ground and snoring. With Hypno down for a while, Tyranitar focused on dealing with Charizard before it could launch another Fire Blast Venusaur's way. Circles of stones surrounded Tyranitar as Charizard reared back to launch another Fire Blast. Once the stones had formed, Tyranitar launched them towards Charizard just as the dragon had unleashed its Fire Blast. The stones collided with the Fire Blast, turning red from the heat of the flames, but they did not melt and managed to push their way through the flame, eventually extinguishing it before rocketing on towards the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon. The rocks scored direct hits on the already hurting Charizard and were too much for him to handle. After the first few rocks, Charizard had already been knocked unconscious. The remaining rocks had been insurance, just to make sure that Charizard did not rise anytime soon and try to continue the fight.

With Charizard having been dealt with, only Mismagius was still able to fight, and it had been focused solely on preventing Mia from being able to leave the fight. Mia knew that Chandelure would be the best opponent for Mismagius, since both were Ghost-types and Chandelure had access to not only Shadow Ball, but other techniques that could make life difficult for Mismagius, not to mention its evasiveness. However, she also did not want to risk Chandelure against Mismagius on the off chance that Mismagius could be stronger than initially believed, or receive backup and take down the only Pokémon tracking down the fleeing Rocket Trio. Besides, there were other options.

Tyranitar quickly stepped forward and charged towards Mismagius, his mouth wide open in preparation for Crunch. Mismagius attempted to stall Tyranitar by launching a Shadow Ball, but once the purple orb of energy was launched, Tyranitar batted it away with a single sweep of his arm. Mismagius then floated into the air, above Tyranitar's reach and fired another Shadow Ball at the Armor Pokémon. This Shadow Ball scored a direct hit on Tyranitar, creating an explosion and a cloud of smoke, but only inflicted minimal damage. Tyranitar countered with another Stone Edge attack, forming multiple stones around his body. He then launched them at Mismagius at virtually point blank range. The Ghost-type never had a chance. Rock after rock struck Mismagius, inflicting a great deal of damage on it. This was quickly followed by a Thunderbolt attack launched by Jolteon. The two attacks were more than Mismagius could handle and the Ghost-type Pokémon fainted.

During the brief skirmish between Mismagius and Tyranitar and Jolteon, though, Butch and Cassidy quickly realized that they were not going to be able to stop Mia from leaving once Mismagius was overpowered. However, they still had a few options left to them. They pushed a button on the backs of their jetpacks and two small wings immediately deployed from each pack. On the two small wings were two small gray missiles per wing. Despite their small size, each missile had enough power to destroy an Earth main battle tank with a single hit. They were extremely valuable missiles and Team Rocket had very few such weapons. The two Rocket Agents quickly locked onto Mia and Butch gave a snort. "I don't know why we didn't do this in the first place," he said nonchalantly as he pushed the fire buttons on his jetpack's controls and unleashed two missiles down towards Mia.

"I hear you," came Cassidy's reply as she, too, fired two of her missiles down at the teenage girl. Mia heard the sound of the rockets coming towards her and looked up, noticing the missiles zeroing in on her. She turned to flee so as to try to escape their blast, but would not need to, for a stream of fire soon came from her left and intercepted the missiles. The flames melted their hulls and caused them to explode in midair. Mia looked over and saw Ash riding his Charizard, being followed by several of his Pokémon. Mia gave a nod and then turned back to the Rockets.

While Mia had turned to see Ash and his Pokémon approach the scene, Starmie had quickly used Psychic to catch the shrapnel produced by the missiles, protecting Ash and Mia in the process, and launch it back at Butch and Cassidy. The shards of metal were launched in their direction and they turned to flee, only to suffer hits to their jetpacks. As soon as the metal skin of the packs was breached, electricity sparked from the impact points of the hits and several small explosions sounded, as well as several clouds of smoke forming. As for the two Rockets, they were sent plummeting to the ground, screaming. Before they hit, though, a blue field of energy surrounded them, breaking their fall. They were then gently let down to the ground, where they landed softly and were still alive and in one piece. Looking behind them, they saw the Rocket Brothers rushing towards them, an Alakazam out and ready for battle. Tyranitar, however, quickly went to engage the new Pokémon and rushed towards it using Pursuit. He quickly arrived at the Psychic-type Pokémon and barreled into it, knocking it to the ground. Tyranitar then leaned down, opened its mouth, and then bit down on Alakazam's head. His single Crunch attack was sufficient to knock Alakazam unconscious.

The Rocket Brothers, shocked at how quickly Alakazam had been dealt with, grabbed their Poké Balls and prepared to hurl them into the air in order to deploy their forces when they heard a cry, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on the Rockets!"

A bolt of lightning instantly fell among the Brothers and electrocuted them. Electricity arced across their bodies and they cried out as they were hit. After a few seconds, the lightning bolt ceased and they fell to the ground, paralyzed, for the moment, and unconscious, but still alive. Butch and Cassidy turned to see Ash standing next to Charizard; Pikachu perched on his shoulder, his cheeks crackling with electricity. The Rockets, knowing what was about to happen, locked onto the boy and his Pokémon with the remaining missiles on their jetpacks, but a second Thunderbolt from Pikachu quickly put an end to their hopes of taking him down. The Rockets cried out as electricity played across their bodies and after the bolt was cut off, the two Rocket Agents fell to the ground, unconscious.

With Butch, Cassidy, and the Rocket Brothers defeated, Ash looked over at Pikachu and Charizard and congratulated them, saying, "Awesome job you two."

Pikachu and Charizard gave Ash big smiles in return. He then turned to see Mia drawing the Ray Gun that she had taken from one of the fallen Team Rocket soldiers and went over to the fallen Butch. She checked the gun to make sure that the safety was off and, seeing that it was, she then checked to see if it had more than one setting. Satisfied that it only had one setting, _kill_, she took aim at Butch. She did not smile or make any witty remarks as she began to pull the trigger. Realizing that Mia was about to kill a defenseless Rocket, Ash ran over to stop her from killing him, yelling, "Wait!" Before the Ray Gun went off, though, Ash had managed to reach her and push her hand away from Butch just as the gun discharged, a green pulse of energy emerging from the barrel and gouging a hole in the ground next to the fallen Rocket, missing him by inches.

Slowly turning her head towards Ash, Mia's seethed. Ash could see her barely contained rage in her eyes. "What do you think you're doing, Ash?" she demanded in a low, cold voice.

"You were about to kill him!" Ash blurted in response.

"Yes," Mia answered, nodding. "So?"

Ash's eyes went wide at her statement. He could scarcely believe what he was hearing. "So? What do you mean by 'so'? You were about to kill him!"

"He wouldn't have been the first," Mia responded in a dark tone. "But hopefully these would be the last," she continued, motioning towards the other fallen Rockets.

Ash began to be scared for his sister now. He could not believe what she was saying. "You would have killed all of the Rockets like this? I could see it if this was in the heat of battle, but this? This would be murder! You would kill them like this?"

"Yes," Mia declared. "This is war! They are the enemy and have already tried to kill us. They won't stop. They know who we are. They know who our family and friends are. It's likely that they know where we live, as well." Approaching her brother and grasping him by the shoulders, she continued, "Ash, Team Rocket isn't like the other villainous teams that you and others have encountered in the past, save for maybe Team Galactic. Team Rocket is evil, pure evil! They don't sugarcoat what they do and say that they're trying to make the world or universe better, like Teams Aqua, Magma, and even Team Galactic to a lesser extent. They don't consist of a group of misguided people that are led by a single evil person. They _are_ evil, pure evil! They've killed sentients, humans and Pokémon alike. They are murderers. I'm dealing with them now so that we won't have to worry about them later."

"There has to be another way," Ash countered, almost pleading with his sister.

"Do you have any handcuffs?" Mia asked harshly. "Do you have rope? Do you have anything with which we can confine these Rockets? Do you have a phone with which to contact the police?"

Ash shook his head.

"I didn't think so," Mia retorted. "Team Rocket are monsters. They are led by monsters. Their Pokémon are monsters. Don't let the Failure Trio that you so often go up against fool you. They are _not_ representative of the real Team Rocket. Giovanni, Domino, Butch, Cassidy, etcetera; _they_ are the real Team Rocket."

"But we can't just decide when and how to end their lives," Ash protested.

"I don't want to kill them either," Mia almost yelled back. "But the thing is that they are a danger, not only to us, but to our friends and family, too. That Thunderbolt that Pikachu used on them will wear off not too long from now. What happens once they regain consciousness? Will they come after us and force us to check our backs constantly as we go after the rest of Team Rocket? Will they try to launch another attack on the hotel? Will they simply go to one of the other hideouts and plan an attack on our homes, our friends, our family, as well as the families of our friends? Did you think about that?"

Ash glanced down at the ground gloomily and shook his head. "I didn't think so," he heard her say. Ash gritted his teeth. Mia was right in one sense. The Rockets were still a threat. The two of them had nothing with which to neutralize them non-lethally. Sleep Powder or knocking them unconscious would only work for so long. After that, they would be awake and ready to go. If they simply let out all of the Rockets' Pokémon in order to knock them out, their own Pokémon would get tired from all of the fighting, and while none of their Pokémon would object to doing so, they wanted to save their Pokémon for the real battles. Still, Ash couldn't bring himself to kill the Rockets, or let Mia do it, either. A solution then came to his mind.

"Mia, I have an idea," he told her as he went over to one of the Rocket Brothers. Stooping over the fallen Pokémon, he grabbed the Poké Ball. "Be careful," Mia warned. "Many of Team Rocket's Pokémon are willing participants in their crimes and join them voluntarily."

Ash slumped over and gave a sigh at his sister's warning. His plan had been to simply release all of the Pokémon under the control of the Rockets. If what Mia said was true, though, then that would do them little good, for the Pokémon would continue to serve them, whether they were released or not.

"I just can't kill them," Ash roared in response. "Not like this!" He tried to think of what he could do so as to not kill the Rockets, or their Pokémon, but still be able to neutralize their threat. His eyes then flashed as an idea came to mind. He quickly went over to the Rocket Brother once more and gathered his Poké Balls. It was not perfect, but it was the best he could think of at the moment. "Mia, come on and help me get their Poké Balls," he directed.

"What are you doing?" she asked, wondering what his plan would be.

"If we don't kill them, then we can just remove what makes them so dangerous," Ash answered. "We take their Poké Balls and hide them."

Mia looked at him skeptically. "And when they wake up?"

"They'll still have to search for their Poké Balls," he answered. "Besides, we can call the police on them. We'll use Venusaur's Sleep Powder to keep them asleep. That should keep them down until the police arrive."

Mia was a little surprised at how decent the plan sounded. It actually had a fair chance of success, easily enough for her to be willing to entertain the idea. Still, there were flaws, which quickly came to mind. If the police were corrupt or on the payroll of Team Rocket, if the Rockets' Pokémon broke free of their Poké Balls, if the police took to long to arrive, etcetera, the Rockets would still be able to escape. Despite these issues that she had with the plan, she did not want to fight Ash over this anymore, so she acquiesced to his desires and said, "Fine, we'll do it your way. But if things go wrong and this comes back to bite us, and our family and friends, I'm holding _you_ responsible," she warned. She then contacted the police and informed them of the situation. Once she had given them all of the information needed, she went over to her brother and helped him gather all of the Rockets' Poké Balls. As they were gathering the Poké Balls, though, the Rockets suddenly awakened and their Poké Balls all opened, revealing their Pokémon.

Butch, who was close to Ash, performed a leg sweep and swept Ash off his feet, knocking him to the ground. Cassidy tried to do the same to Mia, but she was too quick for the Rocket and she avoided the sweep. She drew her lightning gun and took aim at Butch before he could order his Pokémon to attack. However, the lightning blast was intercepted by Sandslash, a yellowish tan bipedal rodent-like Pokémon with large brown quills sticking from its back, and the blast merely pushed the Pokémon back a few feet. Mia grunted. She had not expected a Ground-type Pokémon to actually be able to take a direct hit from a weapon like a lightning gun the way it had. Still, Butch had reflexively dove away from the blast, allowing Ash to rise.

"You should have let her kill us," Butch sneered as he formed up with Cassidy and the others, who had already risen, apparently no longer suffering from the effects of Pikachu's Thunderbolt.

Once Ash rose, he yelled over to Mia, "Go! Follow Team Rocket! I'll hold back the others!"

Mia was unable to hide her shock. "What? They greatly outnumber you!" she countered.

Ash merely grinned. "I can handle it," he assured her. "Just go and take down Team Rocket, once and for all."

The twin bond between the two then flared and Mia knew that Ash believed that he was able to hold off the six Rockets, as well as all of their Pokémon. She was still skeptical, but she knew that she would not get another chance. She did not want to leave, but Ash insisted, "Go. Take them down. I'll be right behind you. Think of this as my first test as the World Pokémon League Champion," he added humorously.

At first, Mia gritted her teeth in defiance, but seeing the resolve on her brother's face, as well as the faces of Pikachu and Charizard, she figured that he might actually be able to do it. Still, she would not abandon them. After all, the Rocket Brothers could awaken at any moment and make an already difficult battle impossible to win. As a result, she returned to her brother's side and said, "Sorry Ash. I'm not leaving you just yet. Now let's go and take down these Rockets once and for all. This time, when I have them down, let me take them out, permanently."

Ash gave a difficult smile, but still responded, "Got it." Facing down the other Rockets, both kids cried, "Go!" With that, the two sides rushed each other and the battle began again.

Meanwhile, over at Team Rocket Headquarters, Giovanni sat in his office, waiting for any information on the outcome of the attack on the hotel. So far, he had heard nothing from the assault force. The teams that had captured the Legendary Pokémon had already returned and given him the Pokémon. He had transferred them to a case on the wall with numerous security protocols before he would gain access to them. Persian looked up at him, wanting to be scratched behind the ears, but Giovanni was distracted from the lack of news. Seeing that it would get little satisfaction from its master, Persian went over to curl up in a corner and lick its paws. Soon, there was a knocking at the office door, causing Giovanni to become more alert.

"Enter," he bellowed.

The door opened and his secretary appeared in the doorway. She stepped through and bowed "Forgive me, sir, but Jessie, James, and Meowth wish to make their report."

"Send them in," he ordered.

She nodded and stepped aside, allowing the trio to enter. The trio entered, doing their best to look normal, but Giovanni could tell that there was an edge to them. They approached his desk and stopped, bowing. "What's your report? How did the attack on the hotel go?"

"The attack on the hotel was a failure," Jessie replied. "Only ourselves, Butch, Cassidy, and the Rocket Brothers managed to escape the hotel. Everyone else was either captured or killed. Domino was among the fatalities."

Giovanni's eyes flashed with shock. "Domino's dead? How?"

"We don't know," Jessie answered. "She had ordered us to go on lookout so that hotel security or any other Pokémon Trainers or Champions would not have entered into the fight without warning. We were called away from our assignment after she was killed and arrived near the end of the battle. As the battle wore on, Lance and Cynthia joined the fight and we suffered even more losses and the situation was untenable, so I ordered a retreat. However, we were pursued by the twerp and Leaf."

"Twerp?" Giovanni asked, not having the same history with Ash that Jessie, James, and Meowth did.

"The new Champion, Ash Ketchum," James answered for Jessie.

"I see," Giovanni replied, nodding absently.

"We managed ta escape, but I think we may have been followed," Meowth reported. "Leaf's a strong Trainer, so she may have been able ta track us, ta say nuthin' of da twerp."

"We must assume that one or both of them was able to follow you and that we have been found," Giovanni stated.

"Should I begin ordering the evacuation of the base, sir?" his secretary asked.

"No," he answered. "We can still make a stand. Have everyone get to their defensive positions and prepare for attack. Tell them to deploy their Pokémon as well. Give the Legendaries to Security and to Gideon and Dr. Zager. They'll be necessary should Leaf manage to break through our defenses. However, I don't want it to come to that. I want her to be dealt with the moment she is spotted."

"Understood," his secretary answered. She then left Giovanni and the trio alone.

"What about the Rocket Brothers?" Jessie asked, making sure to ignore the fact that Butch and Cassidy were still out there with them.

"We need everyone here at their posts to deal with Mia. She's the bigger concern. The Rocket Brothers will be fine on their own, for now," Giovanni answered. "Besides, chances are that they have Butch and Cassidy to help them and are dealing with one Trainer. They should at least be able to hold him back for a while."

"And what is our assignment?" Jessie asked.

"Remain outside my office," Giovanni directed. "You will provide the last line of defense should they get this far."

"Understood," Jessie, James, and Meowth answered, bowing before they departed. Giovanni gritted his teeth at their report. He had feared that the force that he had sent would not be sufficient, but he had not had time to call in extra support from the Johto Branch. He simply sat back in his chair and sighed. He then pushed a button on his desk, which opened the case on the wall. He looked over at the Poké Balls, wondering if he should deploy the Legendary Pokémon. He had intended to use them as a last resort if everything else had failed. However, thing were going very badly. And he felt that it was better to have Leaf and Ash beaten far away from him. Despite the fact that he did not want to simply hand out his Legendary Pokémon to officers like Butch and Cassidy. Despite seeming to be more competent than Jessie, James, and Meowth, they had their own share of failures. He would exhaust all options before resorting to using Legendaries to deal with Leaf.

He sat back anxiously in his chair, reaching into his desk and pulling out an old Earth gun, a slugthrower weapon, rather than the energy weapons that were currently often in use. Giovanni then looked over the reports on the Legendary Pokémon that Team Rocket had obtained. He then pushed a button and bellowed, "Gideon, are you there?"

"I'm here," the scientist reported over the comm. "What may I do for you?"

"Is Genesect ready yet?"

"Not yet, sir," came the response. "Give me about an hour or so and it should be ready."

Giovanni seethed. "We don't have an hour!" he roared. "We're likely going to come under attack soon and I want to be prepared when we do."

"I can't afford to rush it, sir," Gideon insisted. "If we take Genesect out too soon, it will either not be anywhere close to full power, or uncontrollable, which would make matters even worse for us than they already are. An hour is the best I can do."

"Fine," the Rocket Boss growled. "Just tell me when it's ready. I need it as soon as possible."

"I will, sir," Gideon finished. With that, the channel was closed. Giovanni then sat back in his chair and waited, knowing that the inevitable was about to come.

As he sat, a chime sounded at his door. "Enter," Giovanni bellowed.

The door opened and a Rocket Officer stepped through the door. He had brown hair and red eyes, and he had an aura of power about him. Seeing the officer, Giovanni began by saying, "What is it Aizen?"

"Sir, I have heard of the reports of Leaf and her brother coming to us," he answered, bowing respectfully, but his smile indicated that there were ulterior motives. "If you want my advice, I think that you should send out your strongest forces to deal with them before they are on our doorstep. The longer they are allowed to fight, the greater the chances that they may find a way to reach you."

"And what would you have me do? Send out my Legendary Pokémon?"

Aizen nodded. "Yes. As of right now, Butch and Cassidy have their own Pokémon, as well as the Rocket Brothers backing them up. This would be a great opportunity to use some of our Legendaries, such as the Lake Guardians, to deal with them now, before they get past our agents and are able to fight each Legendary individually."

At first, Giovanni was going to scoff at his underling's suggestion, but upon thinking about it for a second, he realized the wisdom in Aizen's words. In the end, he told Aizen, "I'll take your suggestion under advisement. As for right now, go outside and stand guard outside my office. I'll contact you when I have further orders."

"Understood," Aizen replied, bowing. He then turned and departed. As he departed, he gave a subtle grin.

Just outside Giovanni's office, a mysterious new officer that they had not really noticed enter their boss's office joined Jessie and James. He wore the standard Team Rocket uniform, though his hat completely covered his ears, so as to not give away his true nature. His magic would allow his true nature to remain hidden from the base's sensors. His greater concern, though, was that there were several Psychic-type Pokémon inside the base that might have been able to give him away. At least with the suggestion he had given Giovanni, three of the stronger ones would be busy dealing with Ash and Mia. He would worry more about that when the time came, if it came. Right now, he had to make sure that Giovanni was properly protected from the others. After all, the only way he would get his revenge on his enemy would be to face off and threaten the lives of those his enemy cared about. He merely stood by Giovanni's office and waited for the attack to come. Looking at him, Jessie, James, and Meowth noted the new Rocket's arrival and, not recognizing him, asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Aizen," came the answer from the 'Rocket Officer'.

"And what are you doing here?" Jessie asked.

"I was ordered to help protect Giovanni," came the answer from the figure. "He _is_ the reason Leaf is coming here, isn't he?"

The trio nodded. Aizen had to suppress his grin. He had heard that these three were not the brightest bulbs in the organization, but now he could tell with absolute certainty. He still smiled kindly for them and stood outside of the office with them. Still, his mind raced as his plans formed in his mind. Everything was falling into place.

Just outside of the small town where Team Rocket had established their new base, Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon were fighting the battle of their lives against the surviving Rockets from the attack on the hotel. A Kadabra that served one of the Rocket Brothers shoved its hand forward, sending Ash and Pikachu flying through the air. They flew directly into the stomach of Snorlax, who was barely fazed by the impact of the human and smaller Pokémon. Ash and Pikachu dove away as Snorlax opened his mouth and unleashed a Hyper Beam directly at Kadabra. Kadabra raised a Light Screen and intercepted the large Pokémon's Hyper Beam and the beam splashed against the shield, inflicting no harm on the Pokémon. Unfortunately, while Kadabra was focusing on Snorlax, Tyranitar stepped forward and used Stone Edge on the Psychic-type Pokémon. A barrage of stones assaulted the Pokémon, forcing it back with each hit. Once the barrage was finished, Kadabra was knocked unconscious.

After Kadabra fell, a Fearow, a mostly brown bird with a vulture-like neck and a long beak, dove towards Ash, a drill-like glow appearing over its beak, only to be shocked by a Thunderbolt from Pikachu. The Fearow was the next to fall. Still, that left more than thirty Pokémon for Ash and his Pokémon to deal with. Charizard was currently fighting an Aggron and a Hitmonlee, a brown human and egg-shaped Pokémon with white segmented arms and legs. Charizard used Air Slash, a shuriken-like blade of wind was generated when Charizard flapped his wings to take down the Hitmonlee as it tried to perform a Hi Jump Kick on the dragon. Hitmonlee was sent flying back towards Aggron and it collided with the Pokémon. Aggron gave a roar and shoved the fallen Pokémon aside as it launched a Stone Edge towards Charizard. Blastoise intercepted the attack, though, with a Hydro Pump, allowing Charizard to dodge the remaining stones. Blastoise then turned towards Aggron and scored a direct hit on the Rocket Pokémon and sent it flying with the Hydro Pump.

Looking back towards Snorlax, a Hitmonchan, a tan human-shaped Pokémon with boxing gloves, and an Exeggutor, a coconut tree-like Pokémon with legs and three faces that resembled coconuts in passing, charged towards Snorlax, Hitmonchan throwing a punch towards the Pokémon. Snorlax use Curse to increase his attack and defense and threw an Ice Punch at the Fighting-type Hitmonchan. The Ice Punch scored a direct hit on Hitmonchan and sent the Pokémon flying through the air. The increased power of the attack was sufficient to knock Hitmonchan unconscious. Seeing that Snorlax had Ice Punch, Exeggutor wisely backed away as it prepared to cast Hypnosis on Snorlax. Its plans were quickly squashed when Chandelure unleashed a stream of fire on the Grass and Psychic-type Pokémon, taking it out.

Not too far away, Donphan and Serperior were dealing with a Muk, a purple Pokémon that was made out of sludge and looked like a purple sludge monster that was mostly a head with eyes, mouth, and two arms, a Feraligatr, a blue bipedal alligator-like Pokémon, and a Machamp. Serperior immediately recognized the Muk, knowing its appearance from having met Ash's own Muk during the Elite Championship battles, and knew that she was at a disadvantage against it and went to deal with the Feraligatr and the Machamp while Donphan focused on the Muk. Serperior backed away, extended herself fully into the air and spun around, conjuring a tornado of leaves. Once the leaves had appeared, she launched them at Machamp and Feraligatr, letting Donphan deal with Muk. The first part of the leaf barrage scored a direct hit on Feraligatr, knocking the Pokémon back a few feet and to the ground, knocking the bipedal alligator unconscious. Machamp emerged from the attack still able to fight, but it sustained heavy damage from the attack. It, along with Muk, were soon taken down when Donphan stomped on the ground hard and used Earthquake. The ground shook violently and Charizard took to the air, carrying Ash and Pikachu while Serperior flattened herself to the ground, able to resist the attack due to her Grass typing. Blastoise was far enough away to be able to avoid taking damage from the attack.

Despite the felling of several Pokémon, the Rocket Brothers and Butch and Cassidy were far from defeated. The Rockets soon took matters into their own hands and pointed towards Ash and his Pokémon, yelling, "Everyone attack! Kill them!" To accentuate their orders, they drew their side arms and targeted Ash, wanting to make sure that at the very least, he was killed. They drew their Ray Guns and targeted Ash, only to have Pikachu retaliate with a Thunderbolt, striking all six Rocket grunts, stunning them once more. Unfortunately, their Pokémon were still able to fight, and despite the losses that they had taken, they still outnumbered Ash's Pokémon by a large margin, which greatly surprised both Ash and Mia since they had beaten their Pokémon numerous times before, even in this very battle. Rhydon, Sableye, a purple humanoid Ghost-type Pokémon with diamonds for eyes and relatively long arms, and a Granbull, a pink bipedal bulldog-like Pokémon with two large fangs jutting up from its lower jaw, initiated an attack on Pikachu, Charizard, and Ash. Granbull leapt up to try to bite Ash in half, only to be knocked back by Pikachu's Thunderbolt and Charizard's Flamethrower. Rhydon and Sableye unleashed a Stone Edge and Shadow Ball on Charizard, Pikachu, and Ash in order to support Granbull. Pikachu attempted to counter with a Thunderbolt but the lightning was attracted to Rhydon's horn and was unable to strike Sableye. Fortunately, Charizard was able to fly over the attacks and both the Shadow Ball and Stone Edge barrage missed their marks. Charizard's retaliatory attack, however, did not, as he unleashed a Fire Blast on Sableye. The blast of flame struck the Dark/Ghost-type and sent him sailing backwards. Sableye hit the ground and skidded across the surface and came to a halt, unconscious. Still, they had to deal with Rhydon and, looking around at the rest of the scene, Ash knew that he was in a desperate situation since Team Rocket's Pokémon were swarming his. Ash's Pokémon were spraying their attack at the Rocket Pokémon but were at best only holding them off. It was also clear that the weight of all of the fighting was beginning to wear on his Pokémon as Blastoise and Snorlax took direct hits from two Crobats as they unleashed an Air Cutter barrage on them. A series of X-shaped blades of wind collided with the two Pokémon but, fortunately, did not score critical hits and did not inflict much damage to the Pokémon. Blastoise retaliated with an Ice Beam, which scored a direct hit on one of the Crobats and froze it solid. Snorlax counterattacked by throwing an Ice Punch directly towards the other Crobat, but the bat-like Pokémon flew straight up into the air and out of reach of Snorlax. It was quickly taken down, though, by a Stone Edge barrage from Donphan.

Not too far away, Serperior was doing her best to hold off an assault by a Gengar, a Ghost/Poison-type Pokémon, a Weezing, and a Magnemite, a gray ball with a single eye and a screw at the top of its head with a magnet on either side of its body. Serperior fired an Energy Ball at the Magnemite and managed to force it back, but its part Steel typing made it resistant to the attack and it was still able to fight. Since it was part Steel-type, Toxic was also not an option. She was quickly supported by Donphan, but since the Pokémon they were facing could float, it would be a difficult battle since Donphan's Earthquake would be useless against them. They looked around to see if anyone else could help them, but they had their own issues as each of the other Pokémon was often double or even triple-teamed by the Team Rocket Pokémon.

She would not be without help for long, though, since a stream of fire soon struck Magnemite, taking it down with a single hit. Another Flamethrower soon hit Gengar and took it down, while a barrage of stones and a Leech Seed from Mia's Venusaur latched onto Weezing and drained it of its health. The Pokémon than went to make quick work of the rest of Team Rocket's Pokémon.

As they were finishing off Butch and Cassidy's Pokémon, the two Rockets began to stir and awaken. Gazing around at the scene, they saw the Rocket Brothers lying on the ground, still unconscious. They saw their remaining Pokémon retreat away from the fighting in order to regroup and await the plan for the next attack. Unfortunately, though, it also gave Ash time to tend to his own Pokémon and restore them to full health and vitality. Not only that, but it also gave Mia a chance to push through and make her way into the town. She charged past them and they tried to intercept her, only to be stopped by Ash. "Go!" he cried over to her.

"What about you?" Mia cried in response.

"I'll hold up the Rockets here, allowing you to get past me and get a clear shot to their base. Just make sure you do something for me," he added.

"What?"

"Live."

Mia smiled. She looked over at her Pokémon, all of who were ready for battle, and then back at Ash. "You got it," she assured him with a smile. With that, she rushed forward, her Pokémon following her charge. As she charged, Butch and Cassidy did their best to stop her, but Ash barred their way, holding his hands out. His Pokémon then formed up around him, blocking their way. Butch and Cassidy scowled as they went to administer more potions to their Pokémon so they would have _some_ Pokémon to fight with. They knew that the best they would be able to do was to slow him down. But maybe, that would be enough.

Meanwhile, Mia and her Pokémon continued the charge into the town. So far, though, she had not encountered any sentries in the town, despite there being several places where an ambush could be launched. That soon changed, though, when she encountered a dozen Rockets, each of them having six Pokémon on them, several of them being Alakazams and Hypnos. These must have been the sentries that she had not seen earlier. At least, she would be able to clear them for Ash. Her Pokémon began the battle by unleashing a barrage of attacks on the enemy Pokémon, taking down a dozen of them in the initial volley before they could even respond. Six of the grunts were also felled by the attacks as Venusaur unleashed a cloud of Sleep Powder on them. Jolteon then fried two more grunts with a Thunderbolt as Earthquakes from both Tyranitar and Garchomp took down more Pokémon.

Just as the battle seemed to be going Mia's way, though, her Poké Balls rose from her belt and red beams erupted from them. They reached out and recalled the Pokémon into their Poké Balls and fell to the ground. Looking ahead, Mia found an Alakazam, its eyes glowing. Mia quickly drew her Lightning Gun and opened fire on the Pokémon, firing a single energy blast at the Alakazam. The blast struck the Alakazam in the chest and felled the Pokémon, but did not kill it. She then took out her Lightning and fired two more shots, felling two more Rockets, leaving two guards left. As she turned to face them, though, she went to fire her Lightning Gun when it began to spark. Looking down at the charge indicator, she found that it was out of power. The two guards grinned and then tossed a single nut her way. The nut exploded in a blinding flash of light, which blinded her and disoriented her. They then produced a single orb and tossed it her way. The orb bounced a few times on the ground and exploded, gas erupting from it. Mia, sensing that it was a chemical weapon, covered her mouth and nose, trying not to breathe in the gas, but the gas managed to leak through before she had fully covered her mouth and nose. She coughed for a few seconds before she fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

Once she fell to the ground, the two remaining Rocket sentries approached cautiously and stooped down to make sure that she was actually unconscious and not simply tricking them into lowering their guard. They kicked her in the chest and when she did not respond, they were satisfied that she was down for the count. They then reached down, grabbed her and lifted her up. One of the sentries looked at the other and said, "We should kill her now."

"No," the other said, shaking his head. "We should take her to base first. Giovanni may still have some uses for her."

The other sentry grinned sadistically as he leered at the unconscious girl. With that, the two took hold of Mia and they retreated back to base, making certain to keep Mia asleep until they could get her inside the dungeon, hoping that they the others could hold back Ash long enough for them to contain or kill Mia and sealing her Poké Balls so that her Pokémon would not be able to escape at an inopportune time.

Back outside the town, Ash made short work of Butch and Cassidy, easily dispatching the two Pokémon that they had sent against him. Pikachu had then shocked them, knocking them unconscious once more. The Rocket Brothers, seeing that they had no chance against Ash and his Pokémon, had wisely decided to retreat. Once they had been dealt with, he mounted Charizard and continued on his quest towards Team Rocket Headquarters, Charizard rocketing into the air and taking off in the direction Mia had traveled. As he flew, he felt a pain enter his chest as he felt Mia fall to the Rockets inside the base. Fearing that something was wrong, he spurred Charizard on, saying, "Come on Charizard, something's happened to Mia. We have to help her!"

Charizard obeyed and increased his speed as he flew he began searching for a small town, having the feeling that Mia had gotten in trouble once she had entered the town. Seeing a small town not too far away, he pointed towards it and spurred Charizard towards it, crying, "There, that's our target!"

Charizard then dove towards the town, flying at great speed when suddenly, he heard the sound of a rocket off in the distance. Looking around, he soon saw a missile heading straight towards him and his Pokémon. "Break left!" he cried.

Charizard obeyed and banked to the left, allowing the missile to fly right by him. The missile began to loop around when it was shot out of the sky by Pikachu's Thunderbolt. "We have to get lower," Ash told Charizard. "The missiles seem to be heat-seeking and were likely fired from surface defense emplacements. We should go in low so we can more easily evade detection."

Charizard obeyed and he went lower, taking Ash and Pikachu down so that they were only a dozen feet or so above the ground. Once there, though, they soon encountered another problem. They quickly spotted a group of four Team Rocket grunts coming after them from the rear. Up ahead, he also saw two Rockets, along with a seemingly unconscious prisoner running into the town. He tried to follow them, but Charizard was intercepted by two Fearows. Not only that, but two Alakazams also erected Light Screen and Reflect Barriers outside of the town's entrance, and were continuing to do so as the Fearow attacked. As soon as they had erected enough barriers to prevent Ash and Charizard from getting through for a while, the two Alakazams teleported over to the two Rockets, who were holding the prisoner. Suddenly, just as soon as they arrived, they vanished, only to reappear a hundred yards away from their previous position closer to the base. This continued until the Rockets and their Pokémon were out of sight.

The two bird Pokémon used Drill Peck and attempted to drill their beaks into Charizard, only for the Fire/Flying dragon to launch a Fire Blast at the lead Fearow. The human stick figure of fire struck the Fearow in the head and sent it crashing to the ground, where it hit and left a small groove in the ground as it skidded to a halt, unconscious. The second Fearow quickly attempted to avenge its partner when it rushed towards Charizard, attempting to use Aerial Ace. Charizard quickly intercepted it, though, and took it down with a single Flamethrower attack, sending it crashing to the ground, smoke trailing the Pokémon.

Once the Fearows had been dealt with, Charizard unleashed a blast of flame directly towards the gate to the small town that the two Rockets and their prisoner, who Ash knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was Mia. As the stream of flame arrived at the gate, it struck a shield, which flared a bright electric blue as it spread out several meters, indicating that while the Flamethrower was quite powerful, it was still insufficient to break through the shield. Charizard grimaced as the flame was repulsed. Pikachu soon focused on the gate to the town and proceeded to unleash a Thunderbolt on the gate. Again, a shield flared into existence as the bolt of lightning struck the shield. Pikachu soon swept the bolt farther and farther in towards the town, trying to gauge how far the shield extended. The shield seemed to extend a long ways, for the shield seemed to go on for at least a mile. While Ash and Pikachu suspected that there were likely some holes in the shield, it would take a great deal of power to try to find those holes. In addition, there were the other defenses for the base that would have to be dealt with. The only relatively safe way for them to get through would be for them to go in through the front gate. However, there would still be the issue of breaking through the shield, as well as having to get past the Rockets that were barring their way. He was not too worried about being able to beat the Rockets, though. His worries came at how much energy his Pokémon would expend in doing so. There was also the issue of them potentially having Legendary Pokémon to deal with, too. Still, he felt as if he and his Pokémon were up to the task. He had to save Mia, no matter the cost. To that end, he told Charizard, "Let's get down and land. We'll have to go in on foot."

Charizard gave a rumble and descended to the ground. The dragon soon landed and stooped down so Ash and Pikachu could dismount. As soon as Ash touched down on the ground, Pikachu jumped off his shoulder. Coming out to face them were four Rocket grunts, the same grunts that had been fighting alongside Butch and Cassidy when he and Mia had been fighting them, along with Butch and Cassidy. Apparently, they were ready to go another round with Ash and his Pokémon.

"Where are you taking Mia?" Ash demanded, Charizard and Pikachu echoing his demand.

The Rockets gave a chuckle and grabbed two Poké Balls each. "She should be back at base by now," the oldest of the Rocket Brothers answered. "There, she's gonna either be indoctrinated into being a member of Team Rocket, or killed. We'll even be nice enough to give you the choice in what fate she meets."

"How about Option Three," Ash retorted.

"What's Option Three?" the Rocket Brothers asked, suppressing chuckles, heedless of the possibility that the boy standing in front of them could actually defeat them, with only Charizard and Pikachu seemingly ready for battle.

"This!" Ash cried as he grabbed his remaining Poké Balls and tossed them into the air. "Everyone, come on out!" he cried.

The Poké Balls opened and out came Blastoise, Snorlax, Serperior, and Donphan. Each Pokémon landed on the ground and gave a cry. They then stretched with some punching the air, getting a feel for how their bodies felt. They were quite satisfied when they found themselves back up to full strength. They then turned to face down the Rockets. The Rockets, for their part, were not surprised and arrogantly smirked. "Big mistake," the oldest of the Rocket Brothers mocked.

Immediately, they opened their Poké Balls and out came a Muk, Feraligatr, Weezing, Meganium, Hypno, Alakazam, Murkrow, and Magneton. They were soon joined by an array of other Pokémon, most of them consisting of Koffings and Grimers, with a couple of Kadabras and Drowzees for support. Butch and Cassidy sent out a Hypno, Aggron, and Raticate to face off against Ash and his Pokémon. Ash grimaced as they Pokémon came out to face them. _How were they getting so many Pokémon and how were several others reviving so quickly after being beaten_? he wondered. He quickly shrugged off the question and focused on the task at hand. While he had gained a lot of experience this day in dealing with Team Rocket and their Pokémon, the battles were beginning to wear on him. His Pokémon responded to the attack by unleashing a volley of attacks on the Rocket Brothers' Pokémon. Their first barrage managed to take down Alakazam and, Muk, and Feraligatr while inflicting significant damage to two Grimers and a Weezing. The Rockets were taken off guard by the attack and they were shocked as one of their stronger Pokémon was taken down before it had managed to begin to fight. They backed off a few steps, as did their Pokémon, before yelling to their remaining Pokémon, "What are you idiots doing? You outnumber them more than three to one! Get back in there and take them out now!"

Some of their Pokémon turned back to them, the expressions on their faces showing the shock at the order. Some of them even grumbled at them, as if they wanted their Trainers to go in and try to take down Ash's Pokémon. They looked back as Meganium and Hypno were the next to fall. Butch and Cassidy's Hypno soon joined them as Serperior took him down with a Leaf Storm attack. The other Pokémon, wanting no part of Ash's Pokémon, who they had expected to be tired and worn down due to the previous battles, backed away even more.

"Come on you cowards!" the Rocket Brothers cried. "Get back in there and fight!"

The Pokémon growled and roared, which could be roughly translated as, _You__ get in there and fight_!

The Rocket Brothers and Butch and Cassidy must have been able to translate what their Pokémon were saying, for they drew their Ray Guns and stepped forward, scanning the area for Ash. They quickly spotted him standing close to his Pokémon, issuing orders for the battle. They watched as he pointed towards the two closest Koffings, who were about to launch a Sludge attack on his team, and commanded, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on those two Koffings!"

Pikachu's cheeks crackled with electricity and soon, a bolt of lightning erupted from the Pokémon. The stream of electricity broke into two bolts and struck both Koffings, taking both down with a single hit. Unfortunately, for the Koffings, and a Grimer who was not too far away, the sludge of one of the Pokémon was ignited and caught fire. The fire spread back into the Koffing's mouth and it exploded. A large fireball and cloud of smoke erupted from the epicenter of the explosion. The explosion was powerful enough to take down the Pokémon, its partner Koffing, and the Grimer that had been standing next to them. A Drowzee was also not too far away and it, too, suffered damage from the explosion, but unlike the two Koffings and the Grimer, it was still able to fight. As for Pikachu and Ash's other Pokémon, they were far enough away from the Koffing's explosion that they were not harmed by it in the least. As the blast cloud settled, Ash could see the unconscious form of the Koffing that had involuntarily exploded.

The Rockets were not bothered by the loss of those Pokémon, though. They merely grimaced as they saw Ash and his Pokémon fight more ferociously than they would have ever expected. While seeing his Pokémon fight hard did not surprise them, they were surprised by the expression on his face. All throughout the battle in the hotel and the second battle during the chase, he had seemed a little apprehensive. He was willing to fight and was not really scared of Team Rocket itself, but he _did_ seem to subconsciously hold back against them. This time, though, he more strongly resembled Mia in temperament. His serious, almost cold look reminded them too strongly of Leaf, their worst nightmare. They were eager to wipe his serious look off his face and return him to what they thought was the more apprehensive boy of old. Perhaps they had made a mistake in capturing her.

They went to level their Ray Guns at him and prepared to open fire when a barrage of yellow seeds landed among them, with some of them striking Butch's Ray Gun. Electricity sparked from the holes that were drilled into the Ray Gun by the unknown attack. Butch threw away the Ray Gun and looked around, wondering, "What the...? Who the heck attacked us and where did it come from?"

The Rockets began to scan the area and were surprised to see Ash and his Pokémon doing the same. Everyone's question was quickly answered as four newcomers quickly came rushing onto the scene. After a few moments, they were able to make out the features of the new arrivals and grimaced, recognizing them as Ash and Leaf's mother and friends: Delia, Tracey, May, and Dawn.

"Ash, are you alright?" Delia cried as she led the pack coming to support Ash. She and the others quickly arrived and skidded to a halt, facing down the Rocket Brothers. Behind the group were their Pokémon. Tracey, May, and Dawn, had their whole teams already out and ready for battle, while Delia was being supported by Venusaur, Infernape, Sceptile, Gigalith, Krookodile, Swellow, and Scrafty. The Rocket Brothers were less than pleased at the appearance of the new arrivals and began to sweat, no longer knowing whether or not they would be able to hold off the new arrivals.

"What's going on Ash, are you okay?" May asked in a concerned tone.

"I'm fine," Ash answered seriously, "but they managed to get Mia. I've gotta save her."

"What can we do to help?" Dawn asked.

"Team Rocket's raised some sort of barrier over the town that needs to be taken down for us to get through. I'll need Scrafty to use Brick Break to take it down."

"We'll hold off Team Rocket while you go in and take down that barrier," Delia declared.

"You'll also want to take Venusaur with you, too," Tracey suggested. "His Sleep Powder will allow you to avoid a large number of battles."

"But I already have six Pokémon," Ash said regrettably.

"You're the Champion," Tracey replied. "You can carry more than six Pokémon as long as they're not in Poké Balls. And besides, Pikachu's never in his Poké Ball anyway. There should be no problem."

"Right," Ash answered, smiling.

With that, Ash went forward with his team, Venusaur, and Scrafty, straight towards the gate that led into the town. To gauge where the barrier began, so they would not run headfirst into a solid wall, Ash told Pikachu, "Pikachu, use Thundershock on the gate. We don't want to use up too much power before the real battle begins."

Pikachu nodded and said, "Pika," in affirmation. As he powered the Thundershock, though, the Rocket Brothers cried out, "Everyone, go after Ash and his Pokémon. We can't let them take down that barrier!"

Their Pokémon, who were sizing up the situation with the new arrivals, quickly diverted their attention and went to attack Ash and his Pokémon.

"Not going to happen!" Delia cried as she and the others launched themselves at the Rocket Brothers and their Pokémon. A barrage of attacks ranging from Flamethrower, to Bullet Seed, to Razor Leaf, to even Hydro Pump assaulted the Pokémon that were headed towards Ash's team. They scored direct hits on the Rocket Pokémon and knocked them off course, with some of them being taken out of the fight. A Drowzee and a Weezing laid on the ground unconscious, with a Muk struggling to continue the battle.

That attack gave Ash and his Pokémon all the time they needed in order to take down the barrier. Ash's other Pokémon turned back to support his mother and friends while Pikachu's Thundershock struck the barrier, causing it to flare into existence as electricity arced across it as it took the hit. Now that they had the precise location of the barrier, Ash looked over at Scrafty and told him, "Scrafty, use Brick Break on the barrier!"

Scrafty approached the barrier and raised its right arm. His hand soon glowed white and he thrust his hand towards the barrier. His hand struck the barrier, causing it to flare an electric blue. Soon, cracks appeared over the energy field and after a few seconds, Scrafty was able to shove his hand through. Once his hand was through, the barrier instantly collapsed, opening the way to Team Rocket Headquarters for Ash.

He and his Pokémon quickly surged through. Scrafty looked like he wanted to come, but Ash told him, "You did great Scrafty. You stay here with Mom and the others and cover them. They'll need your Dark typing for dealing with the Psychic-type Pokémon that the Rocket Brothers are using."

Scrafty could see the wisdom in Ash's decision, something which surprised him greatly, and he had no issues staying behind and helping out Ash's mother and friends. The others soon watched as Ash mounted Charizard once more and he returned his Pokémon to their Poké Balls so as to be able to get everyone to the base as quickly and safely as possible. As they left, Delia and the others watched them depart. The Rocket Brothers considered going after Ash and his Pokémon, but soon decided not to, knowing that if they pursued him, they would have Delia and the others attacking their backs. They realized that the best thing they could do would be to alert Giovanni that he was about to come under attack and do whatever they could to keep Ash's mother and friends from being able to reach him and render any aid. They faced down Ash's mother and friends and the oldest of the Brothers then declared, "This is it. We're gonna be facin' a tough battle here. We're the line. No one gets past us. No one!"

The Rocket Brothers, Butch, and Cassidy then pointed towards Delia and the others and cried, "Attack!" Their Pokémon obeyed and unleashed a barrage of attacks towards Delia and Ash's friends' Pokémon. They deftly avoided the incoming barrage and made ready to return fire. The battle had begun.

Meanwhile, the two Rocket sentries quickly appeared at the doorstep of Team Rocket Headquarters along with Alakazam, a sleeping Mia firmly in their grasp. They quickly approached the door and went to the keypad to the right. After punching in the combination code, the door unlocked and opened for them. They took then went inside, dragging Mia along.

Once inside, they went over to a computer terminal and typed in a series of commands. They then waited for a few moments until the image of Giovanni appeared on the screen. "You better have a good reason for contacting me when we're still under attack," Giovanni said threateningly.

"We have excellent news," one of the sentries proclaimed. He then went silent, waiting for his boss to respond. Giovanni was less than pleased.

"Don't keep me in suspense, what is it?" Giovanni bellowed.

"We've managed to capture former Champion Leaf," the other blurted, barely able to contain his excitement. "What do you want us to do with her?"

"What do you think?" Giovanni retorted.

The Rockets did not know what he meant and they each looked at him quizzically. "Kill her!" Giovanni soon roared over the comm. "That was the mission in the first place; the reason we sent an army to that hotel to begin with! Now do it!"

"Where do you want us to do it?" the first sentry asked. "We can't just dump the body outside. It could be discovered."

"Do it in the basement of the base," Giovanni answered. "That way, no one who may be even a little squeamish would know."

"Understood, sir," the sentry replied. With that, they closed the channel. The sentries grinned sadistically as they looked down at the unconscious Mia. This was their dream come true. Ever since Mia had started taking apart Team Rocket on her Pokémon journey, and even before that when she had initially escaped captivity, she had been Team Rocket's number one enemy. Now, they had the opportunity to kill her and end her threat once and for all. Not only that, but it would also hurt her brother, who had also stopped several of their plans before. With that, they began to drag the unconscious girl towards the elevator. What none of them realized at all, though, was that she had awakened a while ago and was now only feigning being unconscious. Not only that, but she had managed to steal a small knife off of the first sentry. Her lips soon twisted into a dark smile. The two Rocket agents would be in for a big surprise when they got to the basement and tried to execute her.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Ash rode Charizard through the small town, trying to find Team Rocket Headquarters as quickly as possible. The town was small and only had a few buildings that mostly consisted of small houses and huts. That made the large building in the center of town stand out that much more. All throughout the town were long, straight dirt roads. Ash scanned the small town and saw a road that led directly to the tall building off in the distance. Looking up, he saw a helicopter race towards the building. It looked like an old Earth attack helicopter. As it neared the building, he noticed that it was beginning to slow down. As it slowed down, he managed to get a better look at it. It was gray with a red "R" on its side. It was clear that it was affiliated with Team Rocket. Seeing no other landing areas, he figured that the helicopter had to be preparing to land on a pad on one side of the building. Wasting no time, he rushed after the helicopter as it slowed down even more as it got closer to the building off in the distance, wanting to reach Team Rocket's Headquarters as quickly as possible.

The group continued to follow the helicopter, being careful to not follow too closely, so as to not draw too much attention to them. They followed the road that would lead them straight to the building. Ash quickly scanned his surroundings as they moved, wanting to make sure that he and his Pokémon did not fall into an ambush.

As they approached the building, they quickly saw that it was much larger than it had initially appeared. It was not so much a building as it was a small base. It had four main wings, one pointing in each cardinal direction. On one of the wings was a helicopter pad and the group saw the helicopter that they were chasing circling the pad. Eventually, the helicopter stopped and hovered over a single spot for a few seconds before descending to the surface. Ash knew that he did not have a lot of time. He knew that he had to get to his sister as quickly as possible before Team Rocket killed her.

Spurring Charizard on, the group surged towards the building, flying low so that they would be more difficult for standard radar to detect. It did not take them long to arrive at the building. As they made their way towards the building, they glanced around their surroundings to make sure that there were no Rockets outside the building that may have been lying in wait. So far, the path was clear. Facing no sign of resistance, they continued to make their way towards the building.

Back outside of town, May, Dawn, Delia, Tracey and their Pokémon stared down the Rocket Brothers. They deployed their Pokémon with Ash's Krookodile jumping into the air, prompting the other Pokémon and humans on the team to prepare to jump. Just as Krookodile landed, they jumped. Rings of energy erupted from the ground beneath bipedal crocodile-like Pokémon and spread out. As the rings spread out, the ground cracked and split, rocks shooting up out of the ground in some areas, and the ground collapsing in others. The ground shook from the impact of Krookodile's landing, knocking the Rockets and their Pokémon off balance. While they were reeling, May and Dawn's Pokémon went on the offensive, with Ash's Pokémon that had stayed behind with Delia staying back to cover them should they need help. A grounded Steelix was the first Pokémon of Team Rocket's to fall in this renewed attack. An Arbok, a purple cobra-like Pokémon with markings on its hood and underbelly, and a Machamp also suffered significant damage, but were still able to fight. Arbok quickly stood erect and fired a barrage of Poison Sting at Krookodile. Silver pins emerged from the cobra's mouth and lashed out at Krookodile. The crocodile-like Pokémon deftly dodged the attack as Machamp rushed towards him, only to be felled by a Bubblebeam from Piplup, and a Fire Blast from Blaziken. Arbok was promptly frozen solid by an Ice Beam fired from May's Glaceon. Glalie soon faced down a Rhydon and froze it solid with a single Ice Beam. Dawn's Mamoswine also joined in the fighting, taking down a Shuckle, a Pokémon with a thick red shell and four yellow legs and a long yellow neck, freezing it with a Blizzard attack.

Looking on at the battle, the Rocket Brothers quickly saw that things were quickly getting out of hand. Despite initially outnumbering the Pokémon of the new arrivals, the losses sustained at the hands of Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon had weakened their ranks enough so that they would be targets for these new arrivals. Not only that, but even after Mia's capture and Ash's return to the battlefield, while they had been able to revive their fainted Pokémon, the Pokémon were still feeling the fatigue from having to battle against Ash and Mia's Pokémon. Added to the fact that their numbers were now down to the point where they were now outnumbered by the Pokémon of Ash's friends and family, things were looking bad for them. In desperation, the Rocket Brothers drew a bead on May, Dawn, Delia, and their Pokémon and opened fire. Mamoswine quickly used Ice Shard, and a shard of ice formed in front of its tusks. The shard was then launched directly at the Rocket Brothers at high speed, causing them to scatter and fire wildly, missing their marks. The green energy pulses even failed to score a hit on the incoming icicle. The shard of ice struck the ground and remained imbedded. Unfortunately for Team Rocket, it was not large enough for them to take cover behind. The Rocket Brothers, themselves, also took some potshots at the heroes, but they, too, missed their mark as they had to deal with a return onslaught in the form of both May and Dawn's Pokémon. Pink flowers, leaves, ice shards from Blizzard, Ice Beams, and other elemental attacks all streamed their way, forcing them to take cover or be burned and/or frozen alive. They managed to dive out of the way of the oncoming attacks, but their Primeape, a round, white-furred, Pokémon with strong arms and legs that loosely resembled a primate, took the full brunt of the attacks and was lucky to merely be rendered unconscious. Looking on, they saw two more Pokémon of theirs fall and they quickly realized that things were going from bad to worse. They would not hold out for long. Still, they had to do their best, for while they did not want to risk getting beaten by a bunch of kids, they did not want to go back to Giovanni and report a complete and utter failure, either, especially since Ash had already managed to get through the line. To that end, they continued to fight, hoping that Giovanni would send some reinforcements to deal with these kids before they were completely overrun.

Meanwhile, inside Team Rocket's headquarters, Giovanni sat in his office, waiting for the inevitable to occur. He studied the various reports coming in from the sentries that he had placed and scout parties that he had sent out into the abandoned town, all of them reporting that no one was coming save for Ash, but that he was far away. There was a sighting of Ash's mother and three friends from the hotel but they were currently engaging the Rocket Brothers. Reports were looking bleak for that group, but he did not care. They were doing their job. They were keeping them from being able to come to the aid of either Ash or Leaf. He was not too worried about Ash. Despite stopping some of Team Rocket's plans in the past, he was not all that experienced in really dealing with the more competent Rockets. Leaf, however, had nearly taken down the organization twice without any outside assistance. She was trouble. He soon went over to his desk and pushed a button. The image of Gideon appeared on the screen. "Giovanni, sir," the lead scientist almost stammered when he noticed his boss. "What may I do for you?"

"How is Genesect's revival coming?"

"It's coming along nicely, sir. It'll only be about ten minutes or so more before we're ready."

"And the Unova Pokémon transference code?"

Gideon then stepped aside and the image of Doctor Zager appeared. "We're studying it now and we're making progress. However, we still haven't cracked the code so we can't begin using the program to transfer all of Kanto's captured Pokémon to Team Rocket yet. Chances are that it will also be quite some time before we can accomplish that, especially if we want to expand its protocols and transfer every captured Pokémon in the world to our computer. And even if we do, we'll still have to control them in some fashion."

"That's what the Badge Amplifier is for. We can control all of our captured Pokémon with that, even the Legendaries."

"Yes, sir," Dr. Zager replied. "I'll inform you when Genesect is ready."

Giovanni grimaced and then switched to another channel and the image of a Rocket officer appeared. He had brown hair and brown eyes and wore the standard Team Rocket uniform albeit without a hat. "Chief Marsden," Giovanni bellowed.

"Yes, sir," came the response.

"Leaf's twin brother is coming and our outer defenses are not going to be able to hold him. I want you and the remaining security officers to each get a Legendary Pokémon and take it with you. Also, get a set of badges so you'll be able to control the Pokémon. Bring along a loyal Psychic-type Pokémon, though, to ensure the Pokémon's loyalty, just in case the Badge Amplifier isn't up to the task."

"Sir, won't the Badge Amplifier limit the effectiveness of the Legendary Pokémon," the chief of security asked.

"It shouldn't," Giovanni answered. "They should be able to use their full array of powers at their full power. The only down side might be that their loyalty is forced and they'll be more robotic as they fight. But we can't worry about that now. We need every weapon we've got to be trained on Leaf's brother when he arrives," Giovanni countered. "His Pokémon are too strong for our normal Pokémon to defeat. We'll need the Legendaries."

"Understood sir," Marsden answered.

With that, Giovanni closed the channel and screen went blank. The Rocket Boss was then left alone once more with only his Persian to keep him company. He opened his a drawer and pulled out an old Earth slugthrower gun. He cocked the gun to chamber a round and then released the magazine. He caught the magazine and loaded a single bullet in to replace the already chambered round. He then put the magazine back in the gun and waited. He knew that Ash was a child and, unlike Leaf, did not have a great deal of experience infiltrating enemy bases. His slugthrower should be more than sufficient to stop the boy. The real problem would be his Pokémon. Some of them, especially that Pikachu that the Blunder Trio were obsessed with, were quite fast and might be able to take him down before he got a shot off. There was no way that the sentries would be able to stop him on their own. The fact that nothing had been reported only went to show him that either the defenses had been breached or he was being cautious in his approach. He knew that the boy's mother and friends were coming and would soon overrun the Rocket Brothers. When they arrived, if he could capture some or all of them, he would have some leverage over him, besides Leaf, assuming she were still when he arrived. Still, he knew that it would be difficult and hoped against hope that it would not come down to that, even though he dreaded that it would. While he had dreaded facing down Leaf, Ash had managed to defeat her in battle. If he could do that, then what could he do to Team Rocket if he put his mind to it?

Just outside of Giovanni's office, Aizen stood and waited along with Jessie, James, and Meowth. Knowing everything that was going on, he knew that his goals could be complicated if Ash managed to breach Team Rocket's security too easily, especially if he also got reinforcements, to aid him as well. He did not like Giovanni abandoning the front lines due to the fact that one of his enemies had managed to breach them. He shook his head. Giovanni should have expected this and have taken further precautions. The failed attack on the hotel was really coming back to bite him. He should have either emptied out the base entirely or not at all and merely dared them to come to him. Even with Mia's capture, there was still the issue that she had her family to help her and try to save her. As it was, there was little that he could do on his own to stop any of them without giving himself away. With the return of some notably powerful psychics to Earth, he wanted to remain hidden. While he wanted his revenge more than anything, if he could catch his enemy off guard and kill him that way, it would be the best-case scenario of all. And if he could kill some of the psychics that had come back to Earth, all the better.

Countless scenarios went through his mind as he played out all possible outcomes of the upcoming battles. He knew that the Rocket grunts that would intercept any intruders on the tenth floor would be casually cast aside like bothersome twigs. He, of course, could defeat any of the humans and their Pokémon with ease, assuming that Pikachu did not have a Light Ball, but he knew that doing so would reveal things about himself that he did not want Giovanni, or the rest of Team Rocket, to know about just yet, not to mention that it could reveal his true nature to his enemies and they would know that he was here. Still, Ash was a Pokémon Trainer, and if Giovanni could manage to get him into a Pokémon battle without any backup coming for him, then he might be able to defeat him, or at least slow him down so that more leverage could be gained on him, particularly by using the captured Mia. It was a risk, since Ash happened to be one of the Chosen Heroes, but if things worked out, he could lure his true target out into the open, kill him, and also deal with a few more Chosen Heroes in the process. One thing, though, was that if the lobby were abandoned, then there would be no one to stop Ash, and his friends and family from coming in force and making an already difficult situation even worse. He knew that he could defeat Mewtwo, but only if he could execute his plan. For that to happen, he needed to have this battle be a close one, one that Ash and his friends either could, or would, lose without Mewtwo's interference. To that end, he feigned as if he was receiving a message over his headset. "Okay," he said, causing Jessie and James to look over at him. They stared as he nodded a few times, as if acknowledging an order to himself and he finished with, "Understood, sir. We're on it."

Looking up and seeing Jessie, James, and now Meowth, looking at him, he heard them ask, "What was that about?"

"New orders from Giovanni," he replied casually. "Ash has just broken through the Rocket Brothers' line and is on his way here. You three are to remain here and intercept the intruder should he appear. Giovanni thinks that Ash may have backup and that said backup may be a ways behind. After all, the Rocket Brothers had fought Ash and even Leaf before Ash broke through and you three retreated. I'm to go down to the lobby and intercept him until my own backup can arrive. You three just focus on protecting Giovanni. Hopefully you three won't be needed."

"Understood," the trio replied in unison, saluting him. Aizen then made his way to the elevator that would take him down to the first floor and then to the lobby so that he could intercept Ash or whoever else was coming to aid Leaf.

Inside his office, Giovanni was already considering his options. He did not relish the prospect of facing down Ash alone, especially since he had managed to beat Mia, who had managed to beat him on several occasions with him never once having managed to even take down a single one of her Pokémon. And, of course, his sentries had yet to report on the death of Mia despite his orders for them to kill her. He soon opened a channel to the Rocket Brothers and called, "Giovanni to the Rocket Brothers, what's your status?"

The sounds of battle came through the radio as one of the Brothers, the oldest, replied, "We're getting our rears handed to us, sir. There's no way we'll hold out against these kids and their Pokémon."

At the battle, the oldest Rocket Brother watched as Glaceon and Mamoswine froze his Salamence solid with an Ice Beam and Blizzard combination attack. A green bipedal plant-like Pokémon with flowers for hands, Roserade, sustained a direct hit from two Flamethrowers launched by Dawn's Typhlosion and May's Blaziken, knocking it out of the fight. Ash's Sceptile under Delia's command also dealt with a sea horse-like Pokémon, Seadra, that one of the Rocket Brothers had commanded to use Ice Beam on Delia. The Solar Beam unleashed by Sceptile took down the Seadra with a single hit.

Back at the base, Giovanni listened as the Rocket Brothers reported, "We've just lost Salamence, Roserade, and Seadra. Butch and Cassidy have lost all of their Pokémon, too. We're overmatched!"

"Who are you fighting?"

"Grand Festival winners May and Dawn, along with Ash Ketchum's mother, Delia, and a Pokémon Watcher and research assistant named Tracey Sketchit. Delia has some of Ash's Pokémon with her and they're wreaking havoc with our forces. We'll never hold them back!"

"Then don't bother. Get out of there now," Giovanni commanded. "Once you're safely away, stand by and await further orders."

"Understood, sir, and thank you," came the response from the Rocket Brothers. Giovanni then cut the channel and prepared to make his own plans for escape if things went even worse.

Back at the battle, though, Butch and Cassidy looked over at the oldest Rocket Brother as they finished returning their fallen Pokémon to their Poké Balls and asked, "So, what did the boss say?"

"He wants us to get out of here and await further orders," the Rocket Brother replied.

"Thank goodness," one of the Brothers heaved.

"Yeah," the second agreed.

The oldest Rocket Brother then called out to the others and yelled, "Everyone get back to base. Retreat!"

"Finally," one of the Rocket Brothers cheered as he immediately slipped on his jetpack.

Once the order was given, the Brother, wasted no time rocketing into the air and speeding out of sight over towards the small town in the distance, with Butch and Cassidy quickly following them.

Seeing the Rocket Brothers, Butch, and Cassidy retreat, Delia and the others knew that they could only be heading back to the base. "They're headed back to their base," May called out.

"We have to follow them!" Dawn declared as they rushed after the fleeing Rockets. Delia quickly followed after, grabbing the neck of Sceptile so that he could quickly get her to her children.

"Wait!" Delia called, noticing that they were flying in the opposite direction that she saw Ash go. "They're not going back to their base. They're going somewhere else. We can't worry about them," she declared forcefully. "We have to get to my children!" She then told the others, "Ash headed east towards a small town. Follow me!" She then led the way to the town not too far away, with the rest of the group following her lead.

Just outside the base, Ash had finally managed to make it to Team Rocket's Headquarters. He had encountered no resistance since making it past the Rocket Brothers, which surprised him greatly and caused him to be on edge. Once he arrived, he quickly dismounted Charizard and said, "Thanks for the help, Charizard. Take some time to rest. I'll call you when I need your help." He then pulled out Charizard's Poké Ball and returned the dragon to it. Once that was finished, he looked over at Pikachu and said, "This is it, buddy. We've gotta find Mia and save her. After that, we can deal with Team Rocket."

Pikachu could see Ash's burning desire to help his sister in her time of need, but he was also getting a little concerned for his friend, as well. As Mia had said before, this was not something Ash was used to doing. He did not know what would happen if Ash had to use deadly force to stop a member of Team Rocket. He had already hesitated once, which may have helped lead to Mia's capture. He did not know what would happen this time. Soon, he saw Ash let Venusaur out of his Poké Ball and Pikachu breathed a sigh of relief. Ash then focused on the two of them and said, "Okay you two, you're gonna be the front line here. If we encounter any Team Rocket grunts, officers, or scientists, we'll have to take them down before they can release their Pokémon. Otherwise, we'll get worn down by superior numbers. Venusaur, I'll need you to use Sleep Powder on them and make it a strong concoction so that they'll be out for a long time." Looking over to Pikachu, he said, "Pikachu, I'll need you to paralyze anyone who makes it through with Thunder Wave. I'll want you to conserve your electricity so that you'll be able to battle if we face off against some stronger members of Team Rocket. You'll also be useful for dealing with any cameras that may be situated in the lobby and halls."

"Pika," Pikachu replied strongly as he curled his fingers into fists, indicating that he was ready to go. Once everyone was ready, the group headed towards the building. They quickly arrived and, not stopping to see if there were any sentries, they rushed into the building.

The group entered the building most of the lobby deserted, save for two members of Team Rocket lounging around, along with couple of Magnetons and a Magnezone. Upon spotting Ash, one of the scientists, blurted, "Oh great, he's here!"

"Who cares," the other Rocket quipped confidently. "Let's rock his world." Turning to his Magnezone, who was already rising and awaiting orders, he commanded, "Magnezone, use Thunder on that kid. Kill him!"

He did not get the chance to attack, though, for Pikachu and Venusaur quickly attacked Magnezone using Thunderbolt and Energy Ball. The bolt of lightning struck Magnezone and electricity arced across its body just as Venusaur's Energy Ball collided with it. The Pokémon gave a cry as it was also paralyzed by Pikachu's Thunderbolt. As such, it fell to the floor and was easy pickings for Venusaur, who finished it off with a second green Energy Ball to the face. The ball exploded and obscured the Pokémon for a few moments before the dust cloud dissipated, revealing the fainted Pokémon. Pikachu then made sure that the other Rocket and his Pokémon would not join the fight by firing a Thunderbolt that branched off into four bolts of lightning. Two of the lightning bolts struck the Rockets and not only knocked them unconscious, but also paralyzed them as well. The other two struck the Magnetons that were beginning to rise and inflicted significant damage to them, but their Sturdy ability prevented them from being knocked out by the lightning bolts. Venusaur then quickly entered the fray and fired a barrage of Razor Leaf at them, knocking them unconscious with the stream of razor-sharp leaves. The two Electric/Steel-type Pokémon fell to the floor and ceased moving. Finally, Pikachu glanced around the lobby and soon spotted a couple of cameras. He then unleashed a Thunderbolt on them and disabled them, the cameras sparking electricity as they were disabled.

Meanwhile, in the headquarters' command center, the base's Chief of Security, Joe Marsden, coordinated the defense of the base. He was quick to notice that the cameras in the central lobby had gone silent, a fact that two technicians were quick to point out. "Chief Marsden, Cameras One and Two have gone silent."

"I can see that," Marsden retorted angrily. "Initiate a base-wide Security Alert. Send some security officers down to the lobby to investigate and report back on the situation."

"But sir, that would take away security forces from the labs and from Giovanni's office and our scientists aren't Pokémon Trainers."

"I don't care," Marsden roared. "Just do it! I'll tell the boss of the situation and tell him to be ready."

"Understood, sir," the technician replied as he carried out Marsden's orders. As soon as the exchange was completed, the technician pushed a button and the lights dimmed and there was now a red hue about the room. Red lines on the wall lit up and flashed intermittently.

Looking to another technician, Marsden bellowed, "Get me Giovanni now!"

"Yes sir," the technician replied as he typed in a series of commands on his console.

On Marsden's console screen, the face of Giovanni appeared. "What is it?" Giovanni demanded. "Why has Security Alert been initiated?"

"Sir, Cameras One and Two have gone silent." Marsden answered. "I have sent security forces to investigate the situation, but chances are that…"

"No," Giovanni interrupted. "Send them to the stairwell that leads to the lobby. He'll likely take the stairwell to avoid detection."

"You think it's Ash?"

"I know it is," came Giovanni's answer. "He might not be Leaf, but he's no fool, especially if their twin bond has flared. He'll likely be different from the idiot we all thought we knew before."

"But what about any future intruders? What if his friends and family follow him? We can't leave the lobby unprotected."

"Let the others handle the situation if that happens."

"Understood," Marsden replied. He then cut the line and went about alerting security to go to the lobby so they could intercept Ash.

Back in the lobby, stood still for a moment and closed his eyes, attempting to activate his twin bond with Mia. At first, he could not sense her location, but after a few moments, he got the feeling that she was on the eleventh floor. It was not clear, just an intuition. He proceeded to make his way towards the nearest elevator when the door opened just as he, Pikachu, and Venusaur approached. Standing inside the elevator was a single Rocket officer in a black uniform with short brown hair and red eyes staring back at him. "Ash Ketchum," he almost laughed in an ominous tone. "One of the Chosen Heroes." Looking at Pikachu, who was sitting on Ash's shoulder, he continued, "And his Pikachu, another Chosen Hero." He then gave a grin. Ash did not know what this talk of Chosen Heroes was about, but he was not about to let a single Rocket agent stop him from reaching his sister.

Ash was puzzled by his talk about Chosen Heroes, but he did not let it distract him from his mission. "I'm not gonna let you stop me," he declared, grabbing two Poké Balls. "I have to save Mia, and stop Team Rocket once and for all."

"That's a pity because I can't let you get to Giovanni just yet." Aizen then released his own set of Pokémon: an Alakazam, a Magmortar, a humanoid Fire-type Pokémon that had flame launchers for hands and was the evolved form of Magmar; a Leafeon, a green Grass-type Pokémon that was of the Eevee evolution line, a Kingdra, a blue seahorse-like Pokémon that was the evolved form of Seadra, and a little larger and regal looking; a Mismagius, and a Dugtrio, a Pokémon that looked like three brown heads, each with a pink nose, and black eyes.

Ash eyed Aizen's Pokémon and grimaced. This would not be as easy as he thought, but he would not let this stop him. He tossed his two Poké Balls into the air and cried, "Everyone, come on out!"

Immediately, both Poké Balls opened and out came Charizard and Blastoise. Ash then grabbed his remaining Poké Balls and opened them up, revealing Serperior, Donphan, and Snorlax. Aizen merely grinned. "Finally, a battle against a champ. I can't wait." With that grin, he cried, "Everyone, go!"

Ash echoed his cry and the two teams launched their attacks against each other, with the close range combatants charging towards the enemy team. The battle had begun.

Meanwhile, down in the lowest sublevel of the base, the two Rocket sentries that had captured Mia dragged her to the lower room. They took their time finding a secluded room on the lowest level of the base. Mia stirred and subtly studied the corridors that the Rockets dragged her supposedly unconscious form through, making note of every path diversion and door that she saw. She was quick to note that there were not many guards on this level at all. Unless the guards were all stationed inside the various offices that lined the corridors, she figured that any response to an escape would be relatively slow, allowing her a good head start on them.

Eventually, they came to a small room at the end of the corridor. It was protected by two Rocket grunts. As the two agents approached, the grunts bellowed, "What brings you down here?"

"An execution," the first sentry answered. "We've been ordered to kill Leaf and make sure the body's never found."

The guards grinned as they looked down at the seemingly unconscious girl. One of them soon produced a key and turned towards the door. Fitting it into the keyhole, he turned, a clicking sound signifying that the room was unlocked. He then turned the knob and opened the door. The sentries then dragged the girl into the room. As they entered, one of the guards asked, "Hey, can we watch, too? That witch has done more damage to Team Rocket than the Pokémon League, itself."

"You two remain on guard outside," the second sentry snapped. "We don't need anyone coming to rescue her, now do we?"

The guards understood her point and returned to their stations, disappointed frowns lining their faces.

Meanwhile, inside the room, the two sentries dropped Mia onto the floor, letting her plop down next to them. The first sentry still did not realize that she had stolen his knife, or that she was only pretending to be unconscious. The grunt slowly circled the girl as she lay on her stomach, a grin etched on his face. "This has been a long time coming. Too many times you have managed to defeat Team Rocket and nearly destroy us. Now, it's you who's gonna be destroyed."

He then went to draw his Ray Gun so he could finish off the girl when the building suddenly shook from the battle that was going on in the lobby. Mia's eyes went wide as she realized that this was the chance she was waiting for. She sprang up, drawing her knife, and lunged towards the Rocket. She thrust the blade forward and stabbed him in the heart, causing him cry out and pull the trigger while he was still drawing the gun. The Ray Gun discharged and a green bolt of energy erupted from the barrel, burning a large hole in the now dead Rocket's leg. The second sentry was caught completely off guard by Mia's sudden attack and responded too slowly as the girl grabbed Butch's Ray Gun and quickly turned to shoot him. Her aim was true and the green bolt of energy bored a hole straight in the Rocket's chest, felling him before he could even draw his own Ray Gun.

The sounds of the botched execution quickly reached the ears of the Rocket grunts standing outside the room as they heard two pops echo from inside the room. They quickly turned and entered the room. The first grunt to enter was immediately shot by Mia, falling to the ground with a hole burned into his chest. The second Rocket grunt, however, quickly dove out of the way, causing Mia's next shot to go wide. Mia then ducked to the side, waiting for the grunt to make the next move. When the grunt made no effort to try to enter the room, Mia realized that he was likely calling for backup. Wasting no time, she rushed towards the exit and found the grunt dialing a cell phone. Just as he dialed the number and was about to talk, though, she shot him in the chest, taking him down as well. A subsequent shot destroyed the phone.

With the Rockets out of the way, she went back into the room to take the sentries' Ray Guns, knowing that the weapons had limited ammunition. She also scoured the bodies for her Pokémon as well, finding six Poké Balls. She opened each Poké Ball to check to make sure that they contained her Pokémon. As each ball opened, all six of her Pokémon emerged. Once she had armed herself and gotten her Pokémon, she exited the room and rushed down the corridor and away from the scene, hoping that the Rocket had not managed to alert Giovanni or Team Rocket security of her escape. Venusaur and Tyranitar were the first to follow her, with Chandelure and Starmie floating in front of her, scanning the corridor to identify any threats that may have been coming, with Jolteon and Garchomp bringing up the rear. They then ran down the corridor, searching for a stairwell or elevator that would lead them to the upper floors of the base so they could either take on Giovanni, or help Ash do the same.

During the battle in the lobby, Giovanni had felt the tremors produced by the initial exchange. Knowing that Ash had arrived, and dreading the possibility that Mia may have somehow managed to escape, he knew that he had to be ready leave his office at a moment's notice. He was in no condition to face anyone at this point in time. One thing he could not afford to do was to let Ash get any backup. To that end, he pushed a button on his desk and he ordered, "All security forces, we have a security breach. We need to make sure that anyone who has entered the base is intercepted at once. Everyone else, stand by for further orders."

He listened at the chorus of affirmations as he tensely sat in his seat, fingering a button beneath his desk. He knew that if things went badly, he would have to make a quick escape. Looking over at Persian, his expression told the cat-like Pokémon everything it needed. There was a very real possibility that whatever happened in the next few minutes could decide the fate of Team Rocket as a whole.

Back on the ground level of the base, Ash and Aizen's Pokémon clashed as they launched their strongest attacks on each other. As the attacks collided with each other in midair, a series of explosions rang out and a cloud of smoke erupted from the epicenters of the explosions. Several of Ash's Pokémon were forced back as a blast of wind collided with him and his Pokémon. They staggered backwards a few steps but were quick to regain their composure. Only Pikachu seemed to have suffered any noticeable damage, as several dirt marks were found on his fur. Ash went over to him to examine him but he seemed to be fine and a grin and several sparks of electricity emanating from his cheeks indicated that he was still more than able to battle.

On the other side of the lobby, several of Aizen's Pokémon were flung from the centers of the explosions as well. They had not fared as well as Ash's Pokémon, for Aizen's Alakazam and Leafeon collided with the wall and they slid down to the floor and remained still, electricity arcing across their bodies. The swirls in their eyes indicated that they had fainted and were unable to continue battling. All of the other Pokémon were breathing a little heavily as well, indicating that they had sustained some damage from the initial exchange of attacks. There were also some marks on them as well, indicating that the attacks had taken their toll. Still, Aizen could only grin as the cloud of smoke obscured his Pokémon, and Ash's from view. He could not help but admit that Ash's Pokémon were strong, particularly that Pikachu. Still, he had a few secrets that would allow him to win even if Ash's Pokémon were able to emerge victorious against him without any losses coming to his team. Looking over to Mismagius, he commanded, "Mismagius, use Psychic to find the location of Ash's Pokémon through the dust cloud. Transmit the information to the others and coordinate with them."

Mismagius nodded and its eyes began to glow. This was an unfortunate mistake on Mismagius's part since the glow of its eyes gave away its position to Ash's Pokémon. A barrage of Razor Leaf, Energy Ball, and Flamethrower erupted from the cloud and converged on the Ghost-type Pokémon, creating another large explosion. The dust quickly cleared and Mismagius was seen lying on the floor, unconscious. In addition, a Hyper Beam, Thunderbolt, a Stone Edge barrage, and a stream of water came his way and also towards his remaining Pokémon. The Hyper Beam scored a direct hit on Magmortar and sent it flying. The Fire-type Pokémon fell to the ground but managed to survive the attack and slowly stood back up, burns and bruises marring its body, but it was still able to battle. Dugtrio took a direct hit from the Hydro Pump and was taken down in one hit. Kingdra took the remaining hits from Pikachu and Donphan and was force back a few paces, but stood its ground and glared into the clearing dust cloud.

It was now that Aizen grimaced. Two thirds of his team was beaten and his two remaining Pokémon had suffered significant damage in the recent exchange, all the while, Ash's Pokémon were still relatively fresh. He quickly considered his options. He could deploy one of his secret weapon right now, but doing so would be risky at best. Still, he had few options, for to engage Ash using his true power would tip off Giovanni, and the rest of Team Rocket, to his true nature. Not only that, but his chances of detection by enemies that were actually a threat to him would greatly increase, too.

He grabbed his remaining Poké Ball and was about to open it and release the Pokémon inside when he sensed several Rocket grunts and scientists coming down the stairwell and from the elevator. A few moments later, the doors to the stairwell and the elevator opened and twenty Rocket grunts and scientists flooded from the openings. The grunts were primarily armed with what looked to be assault rifles, but a few of them were holding gray bazooka-like guns called Super Scopes. The scientists were merely holding b-grade science fiction looking Ray Guns like those used by some Rockets in the attack on the hotel. Trailing the grunts were a variety of Fighting-type and Poison-type Pokémon consisting of the Machop, Koffing, and Grimer, small purple puddles of sludge with eyes, a mouth, and two arms, evolutionary lines. In addition, there were a few of the Magnemite line following them as well. Aizen looked back and grinned as the Rockets appeared on the battlefield. "Looks like reinforcements have arrived," he gloated as he returned his two remaining Poké Balls to his waist.

Several Rockets quickly made their way towards the exits in order to cut off any avenue of escape for Ash. Each of the grunts took out a Poké Ball and let out another Pokémon, often either a Grimer, Muk, Koffing, Weezing, or a Machoke; but a few released Pokémon like Magmar, Electabuzz, and even a Loch Ness Monster-like Pokémon called Lapras. The Rockets grinned and snickered sadistically as they closed in on Ash, pointing their weapons at him. Their Pokémon echoed their sadistic grins and laughs.

Unfortunately, while they were laughing, Ash nodded to Venusaur and a large cloud of Sleep Powder was released from the plant on his back. Ash and Pikachu quickly ducked next to Venusaur and huddled as close to the plant as possible so as to avoid having any of the pollen land on them. The other Rockets seemed to be oblivious to the cloud until it was too late and it was already upon them. One by one, the Rockets and their Pokémon fell asleep. Even Aizen, though he would normally not have been affected by the Sleep Powder, feigned falling asleep so as to keep his true nature secret. He could not let his true nature be revealed just yet. He soon curled up on the ground and feigned sleep. Once the Rockets and their Pokémon were asleep, Ash quickly used his twin bond to try and locate Mia. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment. He then got the feeling that she was inside the base, but was on the move. The issue he had, though, was that he did not know where she was. He soon searched for a computer. Finding one, he went over and turned it on. Immediately, a layout of the base appeared on the screen. He scanned it and found that Giovanni's office was located on the eleventh floor of the base. As soon as he saw that, an image appeared in his mind of Mia being held in the office as well. "She's likely on the eleventh floor," he told his Pokémon. "Let's go!" He then proceeded to make his way over to the stairwell.

Pikachu and Venusaur were quick to follow the boy as he went over to the entrance to the stairwell, shoved the door open, and went on through. Meanwhile, back on the floor, Aizen gave a dark smile. _So the boy doesn't have the stomach to kill us when we're down. Perhaps the situation can be salvaged for us after all_. He could only laugh as Ash had fallen for his telepathic manipulation. As he lay on the floor, a plan formed in his mind. He would make Ash regret not having killed the sleeping Rockets. After all, he had access to a large number of Legendary Pokémon.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Down in the lobby, the sleeping Rockets awakened a few minutes after Ash had managed to make his way past them. When they awakened, they looked around to see if there was any sign of Ash or his Pokémon. So far, there was no one besides them and Vice Executive of Battle Aizen. Aizen looked to have awakened before them and he bellowed, "Wake up everyone. The intruder got away."

The other Rockets shot up and immediately began searching the floor for any sign of where he may have gone. This caused Aizen to lift his eyes skyward and utter, "Ugh." Glaring at each of them, he pointed towards the stairwell, shouting, "His goal is Leaf."

The Rockets still did not seem to get what he was saying, prompting him to groan even louder. "Upstairs, you morons! He's gone upstairs!"

The Rockets then realized their mistake and said, "Oh, right."

The group of twenty Rockets was about to file out of the lobby when a quartet of humans along with several Pokémon came bursting through the lobby entrance. Aizen glowered at the group and seethed, "Oh great."

The other Rockets turned to face the humans as they arrived in the lobby. A few of the grunts recognized the faces of Dawn and May from pictures and advertisements that they had done while they were Pokémon Coordinators. They did not recognize Tracey or Delia at first, but they suspected that the woman that was with the children was likely Ash and Leaf's mother. They looked over at the stairwell and the elevator and, realizing that they would not have a choice but to fight the new arrivals.

Aizen took the lead and cried, "Okay everyone, we have to make a stand here. No one can get by us! We have to keep the children separate from their base of support."

"Right," cried the other Rockets.

The Rockets then released their Pokémon. Each Rocket had six Pokémon, meaning that they greatly outnumbered the Pokémon forces of Ash's friends, but their Pokémon mostly consisted of Koffings and Weezings, with a Machamp or two tossed in but a few of them had a more eclectic group of Pokémon including a Magmar, Electabuzz, and even a Lapras, a blue Loch Ness monster-like Pokémon. The Pokémon opened up on Ash's friends and their Pokémon. The deployed Pokémon, which consisted of Scizor, Mamoswine, Typhlosion, Blaziken, and Delcatty, and they ordered the use of various ranged attacks to try to hold back the Rockets' attacks. The attacks collided and for the moment, it was a stalemate. This gave Delia and the others a chance to move. "Fall back!" Delia cried to the others. "It'll be suicide for us to stay here!"

She did not have to say it twice, for Tracey, May, and Dawn quickly followed her back outside the base. As soon as they were away, Mamoswine, Typhlosion, Scizor, Blaziken, and Delcatty made one last push against the Rockets. There was a massive explosion, with most of the force of the explosion being pushed the Rockets' way. A large cloud of smoke was produced by the explosion and the Pokémon used that as cover to retreat back outside the base. While they retreated, the Rockets and their remaining Pokémon, since two Koffings and a Weezing had been taken down in the initial exchange, fired into the cloud in the hopes of hitting some of the enemy.

Once everyone was outside and they had formed up once more, Delia directed, "Okay everyone, get a ways away from the entrance and have all of your strong ranged attack Pokémon target the entrance. We want to be far enough from the base so that if they blow a wall out that the shrapnel won't hurt us, but we'll still be able to target them. If they aren't smart enough to blow out a wall, though, they'll certainly come through the entrance. Once a Rocket, Pokémon or otherwise, appears, open up on it. That entrance is a good chokepoint and we were lucky not to be shot to pieces when we fled."

The others looked at Delia wondering what was coming over her. They had never known her to sound like this at all. For a second she, too, wondered where these almost military style tactics were coming from. She did not dwell on it right now, though. She had more important things to worry about.

The group soon deployed all of their Pokémon for the battle and they formed squads. One squad consisted of Ash's remaining Pokémon that he had used during the Championship that were not currently with him: Sceptile, Gigalith, Garchomp, Glalie, Infernape, Krookodile, Swellow, Staraptor, and Scrafty, while the other squads consisted of each of the other Trainers' Pokémon respectively.

It was not long before the first Rocket came bursting through the entrance to the building. Ash's friends' Pokémon let loose with a vicious volley of attacks. Sceptile, wanting to conserve energy, merely fired a stream of Bullet Seed at the Rocket grunt. The grunt sustained a direct hit from the Bullet Seed, along with a Flamethrower from Infernape. The Rocket was set ablaze and ducked back inside the building, screaming.

Soon, the Lapras that had been deployed burst through, only to be felled by a Stone Edge barrage from Krookodile and a Discharge attack from Pachirisu. Lapras's body blocked the entrance to the building, which would have prevented the others from being able to enter the building, but the Rockets did not see the wisdom of letting Lapras remain there and creating a huge chokepoint for the allies. The unconscious Lapras was immediately called back into its Poké Ball and two grunts rushed through along with two Koffings. The grunts and Koffings were met by a deadly barrage of elemental attacks from Glalie, Infernape, and Blaziken. Delia also joined in, using her recently acquired Ray Gun on a Rocket grunt that had pulled a weapon of his own and was taking aim at one of the party. She felled him with a single shot to the chest. The party continued to mount a strong resistance and take down anyone that tried to leave the building and come after them. They hoped that the whole of Team Rocket would be focused on them, rather than on Ash, but they knew that they would be able to not hold out forever. They merely hoped that Cynthia and Lance would be able to report back to the League and get some Pokémon League reinforcements to track them so that they could stop Team Rocket. As it happened, another grunt tried to open fire on the group, getting off two shots, both misses, before being set ablaze by Blaziken. They knew that they would not hold out forever, but if they could hold out for long enough, and take down enough Rockets, then it would give Ash time to deal with Team Rocket's leader once and for all as well as find and rescue Mia. Aizen was the next to peer out the window, but he quickly ducked back inside in order to avoid a laser blast from Delia's Ray Gun. He gave a smirk, wondering how she had acquired such a weapon. It did not matter. His reinforcements had arrived, and soon, they would power their way through the exit and take the fight to the humans and their Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Ash was ascending the stairwell, making his way up to the eleventh floor. For the first several floors, he encountered no resistance, but by the time he was coming upon the sixth floor, he came across several Rocket scientists that each had a Magnemite escorting them. They also carried briefcases that must have had important documents inside. Wasting no time, Ash pulled out a Poké Ball and yelled, "Charizard, go!"

The Poké Ball opened and out came Charizard. He promptly unleashed a Flamethrower attack on the Magnemites, taking them down with a single hit. Meanwhile, Pikachu let loose a Thunderbolt and zapped the enemy scientists into unconsciousness. The still sparking bodies of the scientists fell tumbled down the stairs, causing Ash and Pikachu to sidestep them as they fell before he continued on his trek.

A couple floors up, he came across another source of resistance on the landing right next to the door that led to the eighth floor. This one came in the form of another Rocket scientist that Ash remembered from an incident with a Lugia and its child in Johto. The Rocket, Dr. Namba, immediately recognized Ash and growled, "You!"

He then took out a Poké Ball, opened it. Out came an Electabuzz. Once Electabuzz emerged from its ball, Namba yelled,

Namba then grabbed a Poké Ball opened them, releasing Electabuzz. "Attack!" Namba commanded. "Use Thunder on that Charizard! Then take out that kid!"

Ash had other ideas and glanced down at Pikachu, countering, "Charizard, use Fire Blast on Electabuzz."

Charizard gave a roar of affirmation as he opened his mouth and unleashed a massive Fire Blast on Electabuzz just as the Electric-type Pokémon unleashed a Thunder attack on him. The two attacks collided in midair, but the Fire Blast quickly pushed back the Thunder. After a few seconds, the human stick figure-like blast of fire struck Electabuzz and took him down with one hit. The Pokémon promptly fell to the floor, unconscious.

Namba grimaced at the sight and prepared to charge Ash himself. Just as he charged, though, a Thunderbolt from Pikachu struck him in the chest. He cried out in pain as electricity arced across his body and he convulsed. He was quickly knocked unconscious and tumbled down the steps until reaching the landing half a story below. Wasting no time, Ash continued his ascent.

Not far into his ascent, Ash was met by another group of Rockets. This time, a duo of Rockets came, flanking a scientist. This scientist was a high-ranking scientist in Team Rocket's Research Division known as Professor Sebastian. He had been second only to Gideon and Dr. Zager. Sebastian had dark gray hair, a pointy beard and wore what looked to be reading glasses. He had no Pokémon with him, but he was carrying a briefcase that contained important information. Flanking him were two Rocket Officers: the thin Rocket with long gray hair and gray eyes, wearing a gray Rocket uniform was named Hun, with the more muscular Officer with short blond hair and sunglasses wearing a gray Rocket vest over a blue muscle shirt was Attila. Once they entered the battle, they released their Pokémon, Steelix for Hun, with Skarmory and Muk being released for Attila. The officers and scientist also pulled out Ray Guns and took aim at Ash. They opened fire and green energy bolts sizzled by Ash, missing his head by inches. He immediately dove to the floor and crawled for cover. His Pokémon also took cover by diving to the ground. The shots sailed over their head.

Once the initial barrage was complete, Pikachu and Charizard rose up and fired off their Thunderbolt and Flamethrower attacks respectively. They targeted the newly arrived Steelix and Skarmory first, taking them down with single hits. The two Pokémon then concentrated on the Muk, who was launched a wave of sludge their way. Despite the enclosed space, the Pokémon were able to dodge the Sludge Wave by having Ash and Pikachu jump onto Charizard and having him fly into the air. Ash also recalled Venusaur into his Poké Ball so that the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon would not take any damage from the attack. Venusaur was recalled just before the wave of poison hit. Since they were near a landing, there was more room for Charizard to fly and the Sludge Wave flowed underneath him, breaking upon the wall and traveling down the stairwell. This was unfortunate for a series of Rocket reinforcements as the wave of poisonous liquid washed over them, poisoning any who got it in their eyes, ears, or mouth, and carrying them back down the stairs. The Pokémon that were with them were also hit, with the Kadabra being poisoned in the process.

After the poisonous wave had subsided, Ash jumped off of Charizard's back as Pikachu and dragon-like Pokémon dealt with the Muk by unleashing a Thunderbolt and Flamethrower attack respectively. The two attacks converged on the Muk and were more than enough to knock it unconscious.

While Pikachu and Charizard were dealing with Muk, Professor Sebastian, Attila and Hun went to draw their side arms so they could deal with Ash and his Pokémon directly. Ash would not have any of that, though, and as they reached for their weapons, Ash lowered his shoulder and charged into Hun, knowing that he would be the easiest of the three to deal with. He barreled into the Rocket and knocked him off his feet, his gun sliding out of the unbuttoned holster. Attila and Sebastian, meanwhile, drew their guns and, noticing Ash wrestling with Hun, turned to shoot him. Ash, who was close to Professor Sebastian, swept his legs and knocked the Rocket scientist off of his feet. This, however, gave Hun the chance to get Ash off of him, which he quickly took. Hun thrust out his arms and shoved Ash off him. He rolled towards his Ray Gun, which was a few feet away, and went to pick it up. Just as he did so, and Attila, had drawn a bead on Ash, a Thunderbolt from Pikachu struck the scientist and two officers and they cried out in pain, reflexively pulling the triggers of their guns, letting loose a trio green energy blasts, each of which went wide of their targets and gouged large holes in the wall and in one of the steps on the stairs. The Rockets soon fell to the ground and tumbled down the stairs, coming to rest on a landing. With the scientist and the two officers having been dealt with, Ash continued his ascent to the eleventh floor. Once he was at the eleventh floor, he noticed that the stairwell stopped. Still, he sensed that Mia was still above him. Wasting no time, he proceeded through the door, along with the rest of his team.

Back on the eleventh floor, just outside of Giovanni's office, Jessie, James, and Meowth slowly recovered from the shocks that they had received in their battle against Mia. They each groaned as they were slow to rise. Looking around, they saw their Pokémon lying unconscious on the floor. They quickly returned their Pokémon to their Poké Balls and stood erect. Looking around, they saw that they were alone.

"What's going on out there?" Jessie asked as she heard the sounds of battle both inside and outside the base.

"Our forces are fighting the twerp's," James replied.

"We have to do something," Jessie declared. "We're elite Team Rocket agents. We can't just be bodyguards."

"But da boss ordered us ta stay out here in case da twerp came by to get to him," Meowth interjected. "We can't leave our posts."

Jessie was about to protest when they all heard a voice on the intercom, declare, "Intruder alert. Security lines breached. Any and all remaining Team Rocket forces, your orders are to intercept the attackers on first floor and take them out. Take all data you can and leave. Anything that cannot be taken is to be destroyed."

"Come on, you heard them" Jessie said excitedly. "We've gotta get out there and help with the base's defense!"

"But what about the twerp?" James asked. "What if he comes for the boss?"

"Weren't you listening? We have orders to go and help with the base's defense," Jessie cried. "Besides, even if the twerp does come to the boss, the boss can handle him."

The other two saw the wisdom in her words and nodded. With that, the trio headed to the nearest elevator only to find it was out of service. "Great," Jessie muttered. The trio then headed over to the stairwell and went to open the door, only to find it open up on them. Staring at them from across the entrance was none other than Ash, who was shocked to see them on the floor, and Pikachu, whose cheeks were crackling with electricity. "Team Rocket!" he cried in surprise.

Jessie and James grinned at the sight of Ash, with Jessie beginning their motto, "Team Rocket, such a…" but the motto was cut short by a Thunderbolt from Pikachu. She cried aloud in pain and then collapsed to the ground.

While Pikachu was shocking Jessie, Ash released his other Pokémon, prompting James to do the same. Cofagrigus, Mr. Mime and Carnivine came out and James cried, "Everyone, attack the twerp!"

Ash quickly tossed his Poké Balls into the air and let out all of his Pokémon as well. Pikachu was able to intercept Cofagrigus's Shadow Ball with a Thunderbolt while Ash dodged a barrage of Bullet Seed from Carnivine. Still, he was frozen in his tracks by Mr. Mime's Psychic. James then commanded, "Carnivine, finish the fight!"

Just as Carnivine was about to finish off Ash, though, a Flamethrower attack from Charizard hit him squarely in the center of mass, taking him down with one hit.

Meanwhile, Jessie recovered from being shocked and joined the battle, unleashing her Pokémon into the fray. Swoobat, Seviper, Yanmega, and Wobbuffet all came out and stared down Ash's Pokémon. Ash, knowing that Wobbuffet would use either Counter or Mirror Coat, decided to throw it for a loop, ordering, "Snorlax, go after Wobbuffet. The rest of you, pick your opponents and attack!"

Snorlax nodded and rushed towards Wobbuffet. Jessie then ordered, "Wobbuffet, use Counter!"

A red glow surrounded Wobbuffet as it used Counter, which would work on physical attacks. However, Ash had other ideas. "Snorlax, use Hyper Beam!"

Snorlax nodded and opened its mouth. A ball of red and white energy formed in front of his mouth as Jessie suddenly realized that Ash had lured her into a trap. "Wobbuffet, use Mirror Coat!" she cried frantically.

Wobbuffet obeyed and quickly switched from using Counter to using Mirror Coat. The glow did not change but the technique did. However, Ash's smile did not disappear. Suddenly, Snorlax closed his mouth and curled his fingers into a fist. The fist began to glow an icy blue as he drew back his arm and thrust it at Wobbuffet's head. Wobbuffet realized too late that Snorlax was going to use a physical attack, rather than a special attack. The Psychic-type Pokémon was defenseless against the attack and the Ice Punch scored a direct hit on Wobbuffet's head. The Pokémon was sent flying through the air, crashing on the ground behind Jessie, skidding to a halt, the swirls in his eyes indicating that he was unconscious.

The rest of Team Rocket's Pokémon did not last much longer, either. Pikachu slaughtered Swoobat with a single Thunderbolt, while Donphan dealt with Yanmega, taking her down with a single Stone Edge barrage. Mr. Mime was dealt with by Venusaur, who used Sleep Powder to put him to sleep, freeing Ash from its telekinetic control. The Grass/Poison-type then fired an Energy Ball at the sleeping Pokémon, taking it down with a single hit. Cofagrigus attempted to avenge the other Pokémon by launching a Night Shade attack towards Pikachu, but it was intercepted by Snorlax, whose Normal typing rendered him immune to the attack. A single Hydro Pump from Blastoise took down Cofagrigus, leaving only Seviper to deal with. Serperior dealt with the Poison/Dark-type snake by using Attract. Hearts emerged from Serperior and flew out towards Seviper. The pink hearts made contact with the Pokémon and he was instantly infatuated with the Grass-type snake, who gave a seductive smile. Seviper was frozen with infatuation, which proved to be his undoing as Serperior unleashed a vicious Leaf Storm upon the enemy snake. Despite having a type resistance to it, Seviper sustained significant damage from the attack. To make matters worse, Serperior's Special Attack rose due to her Contrary ability. Seviper still was not snapped out of his stupor with the single attack and still slithered his way towards Serperior, trying to court the female snake. Serperior simply shook her head seductively before letting loose with an Energy Ball. The green Energy Ball hit Seviper squarely in the head and took him down, the swirls in his eyes showing that he was unable to battle. That left only Meowth, along with Jessie and James.

Meowth, however, would not go down without trying to put up a fight, though. He immediately extended his claws and rushed towards Pikachu, trying to unleash a hail of Fury Swipes at Pikachu. "We may have wanted ta take you to da boss, but now, you're only good to us beaten," the cat-like Pokémon exclaimed.

All Pikachu could do was grin. For him, this was a long time coming, too long. The electric rodent deftly dodged the cat-like Pokémon's swipes and retaliated with a swift Thunderbolt. He scored a direct hit and Meowth wailed aloud in pain as electricity arced across his body and a yellow glow surrounded him. As soon as the attack ceased, Meowth fell to the floor, unconscious.

Meanwhile, Jessie and James went to draw their side arms in the vain hope that they could take down Ash and Pikachu before being taken down themselves. Their plan was quickly squashed as Pikachu fired another Thunderbolt at them and shocked both of them into unconsciousness. Once the short battle was over, Ash knelt down and picked up Jessie and James's, stuffing them into his backpack. Pikachu looked at him and said, "Pika, pika, pikapi?" in a questioning tone.

Knowing what Pikachu was asking, he responded, "No. I won't kill them like this. They may be the bad guys, but I won't become like them."

"Pikaka pi pika," came Pikachu's next response. Ash did not know exactly what he said, but given Pikachu's feelings for Team Rocket, he guessed that Pikachu said that Mia would not have hesitated to kill them. Knowing Mia, though, he doubted that. Jessie, James, and Meowth were bad, but they were nowhere close to being as outright evil as Giovanni or any of the other villainous team leaders he had faced on his journey. "They're not as bad as the others and they've helped us on occasion," Ash explained. He then shifted his line of thought. "Come on," he told Pikachu, smiling. "We've gotta find Mia." He then continued down the corridor, searching for Giovanni's office so he could find out where his sister was.

Back in his office, Giovanni heard the sounds of battle outside. Knowing that the time had come and that he had to retreat, he rose from his desk and glanced over to Persian. He went over to a bookcase and scanned it for a few moments. He soon found a conspicuous book and pulled it out. As he did so, a secret panel retracted from the wall and opened. Before leaving, though, Giovanni went over to his desk one more time and grabbed his briefcase. Then, Pokémon and master then rushed through the secret door and into a room with a single glowing panel. Before stepping on the panel, he went to the wall and pushed a single button, closing the door. He did not know how long this would delay Ash, but every second he managed to delay him would give him a chance to engage him on his terms should he manage to catch up to him. Once the door was closed, he and Persian stepped on the glowing panel and then disappeared.

Back outside his office, Ash and Pikachu made their way past the fallen Rocket Trio. They quickly saw an open door and peered in. It looked like an office, for it had a desk and a variety of bookcases. He also saw a small door behind the desk that led to a secret room. Stepping into the office, he scanned it to make sure that there were no traps. When he was confident that there were no traps or ambushes, he, Pikachu, and Charizard stepped on through. They quickly made their way to the secret room and saw a glowing panel on the floor. Recognizing this as a warp tile, Ash felt that this was the path that would lead to his twin sister. Stepping onto the pad, he promptly vanished from the room, followed by Pikachu, and then Charizard.

Back outside the base, Delia, Tracey, May, and Dawn stared down Team Rocket as members of the Pokémon League came onto the scene. Delia stepped forward and declared, "Let us through now. I have to get to my children."

Aizen and the other Rockets grinned at them. "We can't do that," one of them replied in gravely voice. "We can't let you interrupt your our boss's meeting with your kids."

Delia gritted her teeth and looked over at the Pokémon League forces that had entered. They had yet to make a move. Meanwhile, several Rockets and their Pokémon were about to attack, and even shoot at the group, when Blaziken and Pachirisu stopped them, unleashing a Flamethrower and Discharge attack upon them, respectively. Two Rocket grunts were set ablaze, along with a scientist, and the cried out and writhed as they burned. Pachirisu's Discharge took down their Koffings and Weezings with single hits. The attack caused several of the other Rockets to retreat from the fighting, but others were more willing to stand their ground. The remaining grunts and Rocket Pokémon tried to launch another attack, but Ash's team quickly dealt with them, using a variety of attacks to finish off the Pokémon and grunts. Soon, she heard a voice from behind state, "Delia Ketchum, you and your companions must stand down immediately."

The request shocked the entire group. "What?" they each blurted at the sound of the voice.

The group looked behind them and found a group of what looked to be Pokémon League officials standing there, glaring at them. The Pokémon League troopers then declared in unison. "Your attack on this base is illegal and must cease immediately. We have been authorized to use deadly force in apprehending you should you resist. You will surrender to our custody now or we will be forced to use…more forceful means of gaining your compliance."

The leader then motioned towards the troopers who drew out not only their Poké Balls, but also energy pistols as well. The others then put their guns to the heads of May, Dawn, and Tracey. Despite the threat to May, Dawn, and Tracey, Delia knew that the real threat was being made to Ash and Mia.

Soon, the Poké Balls of six the Pokémon League troopers were let out of their Poké Balls. A group of Psychic-type Pokémon, mostly Hypnos and Alakazams, but also including a Latias, a female bird-like Dragon/Psychic-type Pokémon with a white upper half and a red lower half with red jet-plane wings, stood over the other Pokémon. Several more Pokémon came out of the Poké Balls of the other troopers, including a Salamence, Garchomp, the pink Egg-like Chansey, and a blue and black bipedal jackal-like Pokémon called Lucario, just to name a few. The other Pokémon turned to see the surviving Rockets and their own Pokémon approaching, too. They realized that there was little chance of them being able to beat both Team Rocket and the Pokémon League troopers, assuming they _were_ Pokémon League forces. Studying the Pokémon League Troopers, she noticed that they all had undershirts on beneath their uniforms. She could make out a rounded red arch on those undershirts that reminded her of the top part of a red R. They were not Pokémon League troopers at all. They were Team Rocket. Her hypothesis was proven when two of the League Troopers removed their uniforms and revealed themselves to be Butch and Cassidy, the two of them standing near Dawn and May respectively. Looking behind them, the group could also make out the four Rockets in special uniforms sitting on the seats. They were obviously the Team Rocket Executives.

Delia saw that the troopers were quite serious Butch, the one near Dawn, looked to be close to pulling the trigger. "Wait!" she called.

Butch then relaxed his grip on the laser gun. "What's your decision?" the leader asked, flanked by Salamence and Latias.

Seeing that the fight was an unwinnable one, or that even if they did win, that Tracey, May, and Dawn almost certainly die or being severely injured, Delia answered, "We surrender," glancing downward, holding back tears. The others were shocked at the surrender, but they quickly realized why she had done so. There was no way for them to win this fight. However, it _would_ give them a chance to get to Ash and Mia. And if they could get to them alive, then they would start the revolt and hopefully take down Team Rocket once and for all.

The Pokémon League squad leader then stepped forward and removed his uniform, revealing himself to be a Team Rocket officer. The other "Pokémon League" soldiers did the same. He then motioned for a trio of Rocket grunts to step forward. "Bind their hands," he directed. "Make sure that they can't resist and make sure that their Pokémon are locked away in their Poké Balls. We can't afford to let them get out."

The grunt grinned and then hit Tracey hard on the back of the head, knocking him to the floor, unconscious. Delia and May went to run forward, but were psychically restrained by an Alakazam. Blaziken prepared to launch a Flamethrower towards the grunt, while Pachirisu attempted to launch an attack, but was taken down by a single Psychic by Latias. Meanwhile, a Hypno appeared in front of Blaziken and swung his pendulum in front of his eyes, using Hypnosis to put the chicken-like Pokémon to sleep. Blaziken struggled against the attack for a moment, but eventually, he succumbed and fell asleep. The troopers then picked the Poké Balls out of the pockets of the group and recalled each of their Pokémon. As soon as they were recalled, they placed a sticker on the buttons of each Poké Ball. Delia could tell, though, that the stickers were more than just stickers. They were seals. The squad went over to the humans and led them to the helicopter, some of them shoving the group forcefully onto the aircraft. Delia noticed one of the Rockets, Aizen, head back into the base. The other Rocket grunts were talking amongst themselves, laughing and joking.

"Man, if you guys hadn't arrived when you did in the manner you did, we'd have suffered far greater losses," one of the grunts told the newcomers.

"Yeah, and I'll make sure you repay the debt," the leader of the newly arrived Rockets replied jovially.

The group soon started shoving the captives onto the helicopter. Delia was the last to be forced on, two Rockets being required to push her on. "Don't be such a jerk about this, babe," one of them mocked. "Your greatest wish is about to be fulfilled."

Delia doubted that as the Rockets unceremoniously shoved her onboard. She tripped over the step and fell onto the helicopter floor, prompting the Rockets to laugh. As soon as everyone was onboard, the door closed. Staring at one of the Rockets that wore a white shirt with a stylized R on the left breast of the shirt, Delia angrily asked "Where are you taking us?"

"To see your children," came the response, a little too quickly for her liking as the helicopter lifted off from the ground. "You still have a chance to keep them, and yourself, alive."

Back on the eleventh floor, Ash and Pikachu burst through the entrance to Giovanni's office and scanned its interior. He scowled when he found no sign of Giovanni inside. He scowled and considered the possibility that Giovanni had managed to sneak away during the fight. Given that the fighting had been loud, he doubted that Giovanni would have used the front exit to his office. He likely had a secret exit to the room that would take him to another sector of the base where he could get to a helicopter or some other type of aircraft. Scanning the room, he looked for anything suspicious that might look like secret exit. He saw a suspicious area on the wall behind the desk but could see no panel for retracting any door. After a bit of searching the rest of the room, he came upon a bookcase that had a suspicious looking book that fit tightly in the bookcase, but was tilted forward a bit. He pulled it and in the back of the room, a panel retreated and revealed the secret doorway. Ash and the others stepped through the doorway and saw a glowing panel on the floor. Not bothering to close the door, he and Pikachu stepped on the panel and were whisked to one of the wings of the base.

The two reappeared in a narrow corridor that appeared to be deserted. Behind him, a wall cut off all other avenues of escape. Wasting no time, the two charged down the corridor.

On the other side of the corridor, Giovanni rushed towards a large set of doors. Standing guard were two men in old uniforms that looked similar to Roman centurions. Each of them also held a halberd with energy projectors built inside of them. Looking at the two guards, he said, "You two stand here and wait. Ash and his Pokémon are coming. Try to stall them."

"Understood, sir," came their response as they then stood at attention, preparing to intercept Ash. As Giovanni pushed the doors open, he heard a voice come in on all speakers, "Security alert," the voice of Chief of Security Joe Marsden reported. "Intruders have entered from the main lobby. Our forces are being overrun. All available Rockets are to report to the lobby immediately.

Giovanni grimaced. The last thing he needed was to lose more Rockets, especially since whatever forces were down there would likely not last long enough to be reinforced by the forces in other sectors. Giovanni then took out a cell phone-like device and spoke into it, saying, "This is Giovanni to all Team Rocket personnel. We have been breached. Get to your battle stations at once."

As soon as he had given the order, the lights dimmed and a reddish hue could be seen throughout the hall, as well as the entire base. He then dialed a number on the cell phone and began to speak. "Gideon, what is the status of Genesect?"

"It's not ready yet, sir," came Gideon response. "It's revived but it'll be about a half hour or so before we can have it ready for battle."

"We don't even have a few minutes left right now," Giovanni blurted. "Ash's right behind me! How long until you'll be ready to take your team to Goldenrod City to upload that code?"

"At least a half hour," Gideon answered. "We're going as fast as possible, but it will still be quite a while before we're even able to test it. What are your orders?"

Giovanni grimaced. That was not what he wanted to hear. The only leverage he had over Ash was Mia, and his strongest Legendary Pokémon was still a few minutes away at the very least. Eventually, he told Gideon, "You stay here and make sure that you take the Badge Amplifier with you. Take all of the remaining Legendary Pokémon and take them with you to the helicopter. Use them when you get to Goldenrod City. You'll likely need every Pokémon you can get. Things are getting bad, here. Get out of here once you have the program ready."

"Understood," Gideon answered.

With that, Giovanni charged through the doors and headed to his helicopter, which was already beginning its startup sequence. He knew that his guards would not hold off Ash for long. He then ran towards the helicopter, which was now opening its doors, hoping to reach it and evacuate before he was caught.

Not too far away, Ash ran down the corridor, chasing down Giovanni. The two guards, who were supposed to stop Ash stood by the door. They were wearing ornate clothing that made them look like guards for Egyptian Pharaohs. They quickly drew a type of weapon that looked like an old Super Nintendo Super Scope and tried to draw a bead on Ash. Pikachu quickly leapt into the air and powered a Thunderbolt attack. He unleashed it upon the two guards and quickly felled them, electricity arcing across their bodies as they fell unconscious. Not stopping to question why they did not have any Pokémon of their own, Ash and Pikachu rushed past the fallen guards, following after Giovanni.

Meanwhile, Giovanni and his Persian were running as quickly as possible to get to that helicopter before Ash caught up to them. The helicopter was a twin rotored behemoth that had a chain gun mounted on its belly for defense. Giovanni and Persian were within a few dozen yards when a bolt of lightning flashed past Giovanni's face and hit the helicopter squarely in the cockpit, causing electricity to arc across the vehicle. The lightning bolt fried all of the electronics onboard the vehicle, making it nothing more than a massive paperweight.

"Surrender now Giovanni," Giovanni heard Ash call to him. "Your helicopter is nothing more than a paperweight, your guards are beaten, and we're blocking the only exit."

He stared at the boy and Pikachu, each of who were ready to fight if it came down to it. Still, he did not back down, only staring right back at Ash and Pikachu and grinning evilly.

"It's over Giovanni," Ash reiterated. "There's nowhere for you to go. Now, tell me where Mia is and we can end this peacefully." While he tried to make it sound as if he were sincere, which he was, to an extent, he knew that Giovanni would refuse and that he would have to battle the Team Rocket boss.

Giovanni was unfazed by his declaration, though. "No," he answered with an evil grin. "Besides, there is still something that I can do," he countered. He then placed the briefcase at his side and grinned, saying, "Let's end this the way it should end. While I've battled your sister a number of times, I've never had the chance to battle you before. Standing tall, he proclaimed, "Ash, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

This declaration shocked Ash. Of all the things he would have expected, this was the last. He looked over and saw two people, one male, the other, female, come out onto the pad from the disabled helicopter wearing Roman style armor. Surprisingly, they were not making any moves against him. They had not even deployed their Pokémon, assuming they had any. He then noticed that their armor had the Pokémon League insignia on it. He also noticed that they looked to be young, in their late teens to early twenties at the oldest. One of them, the female, then turned to Ash, and then to Giovanni. "He may be Team Rocket's leader, but he is still a Pokémon Trainer," she said in a hushed tone towards her companion. "As is the boy."

"I agree," the male official said, nodding. "Their dispute must be settled the way it always has been."

"What?" both Ash and Giovanni called out in shock, albeit for different reasons.

"He's a criminal and he kidnapped my sister!" Ash cried.

"He's an enemy to Team Rocket and has attacked our base," Giovanni countered.

"Yes," the man began, "but you are both Pokémon Trainers, and the laws of the Pokémon World state all disputes between Pokémon Trainers are settled by means of a Pokémon battle. If either of you refuses to fight, then that will count as a forfeit. Do you still wish to battle?"

"Of course," Ash blurted in an annoyed tone. He looked at the officials suspiciously. They were almost certainly members of Team Rocket. Yet, they were giving him a hand, allowing this battle to take place. He could not figure out why they were allowing this battle to take place. He quickly went on guard, expecting there to be traps and for Giovanni to cheat.

The officials then proclaimed, "The Pokémon battle between Pokémon League Champion Ash Ketchum and former Viridian City Gym Leader and current Team Rocket Leader Giovanni is about to begin. The rules shall be decided by the two Trainers. If Ash wins, then Giovanni must surrender himself to the Pokémon League to face prosecution and reveal the location of Mia Ketchum. Should Giovanni win, though, he and the rest of Team Rocket shall go free. Any questions?"

They had none. Giovanni then declared, "This will be a six-on-six battle, no time limit. World Pokémon League Championship rules apply. No two Pokémon may be asleep or frozen at the same time. No two Pokémon may be of the same species, either. Neither Trainer may enter the battle and fight directly. Any objections?" He grinned as he asked him the question.

Ash returned his grin. "No objections," he called out.

"Then let the battle begin!" the two League officials declared.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Giovanni began the battle by tossing his first Poké Ball into the air. Once it was at the crest of its rise, the ball opened and a blue blob of energy came forth and landed on the ground in front of him. The energy soon formed into a Golem, a round brown Pokémon that looked like a boulder with arms and legs. As soon as it appeared on the battlefield, it gave the cry, "Golem!"

Ash responded by tossing out a Poké Ball, crying, "Blastoise, I choose you!"

Blastoise then leaped into the air and landed right in front of Ash. He immediately noticed Giovanni's grin as Blastoise was chosen. That told him all that he needed to know about his strategy. He was going to set up Stealth Rock and rely on Golem's Sturdy special ability to survive his Water-type attack. He decided to throw him for a loop and he declared, "Since you challenged me, Giovanni, I'll give you the first move."

This declaration took Giovanni off guard and he stared back at Ash with a look of surprise on his face, as well as a little bit of concern. Ash must have figured out his strategy and he began to sweat. Giovanni knew that Charizard would be the only Pokémon that would take super effective damage from Stealth Rock, but the other Pokémon could be swayed from switching in and out if it was still in play. It was a minor advantage, but it was one that he felt could be the turning point of the battle. To make things even more worrisome, all reports indicated that Ash was not supposed to be as smart as Leaf, yet this was something that he clearly would have expected from her had she be the one battling him right now. Still, he had to do something, and he knew that if he tried to attack Blastoise with Earthquake, that it might just jump over the attack and would be able to stand the tremors of the attack after the initial wave passed. To that end, he decided that it would be best to try his original strategy and hope that Ash would be impatient and go for the quick knock out. "Golem, use Stealth Rock!" he commanded, pointing at his Pokémon.

Golem gave a cry and several silver glitters emerged from Golem's back and began to revolve around it. The glitters grew in size until they became massive rocks. The rocks then embedded themselves in the ground. Ash merely smiled as Blastoise spun around as it swept along the surface of the helipad and cleared away the Stealth Rock. As Blastoise sailed over the rocks, the rocks erupted from the pad, only to be broken apart by the turtle-like Pokémon's spinning. Blastoise did not stop until it hit Golem squarely in the face, causing the boulder-like Pokémon to recoil and issue a grunt.

"Don't back down!" Giovanni cried. "Use Stone Edge!"

A ring of gray stones soon surrounded Golem as it gave a cry and raised its hands. Blastoise quickly returned to Ash's side of the battlefield and landed. "Blastoise, use Hydro Pump!" Ash cried.

Without missing a beat, Blastoise took aim with his hydro cannons and unleashed a torrent of water right towards the large Rock/Ground-type Pokémon just as Golem launched its Stone Edge barrage. The flood of water blew through the stones, knocking them aside and some of them were even redirected back at Golem. The Hydro Pump continued on towards Golem, hitting the boulder-like Pokémon squarely in the center of mass, which also happened to be where its head was, too. Having a quadruple weakness to Water-type attacks doomed Golem since it had already taken a hit from Rapid Spin and the force of the water's impact caused it to roll backwards towards Giovanni, eventually coming to a stop at his feet, where it remained still, having been knocked unconscious. "Golem is unable to battle. Blastoise is the winner," the officials declared, holding up their left hands and pointing towards Blastoise.

Giovanni gritted his teeth as he scowled. He could not believe that a Pokémon with Sturdy could be taken out with one hit, even if Hydro Pump was not a one-hit K.O. move. He then remembered the Rapid Spin that Blastoise had used and he growled. That had been Ash's plan all along. He must have known that he was going to set up Stealth Rock the moment he sent out Golem. He allowed him to get the first move so he could waste it on Stealth Rock, which he would clear away with Rapid Spin, which would continue as it also hit Golem. After his initial plan failed, had been banking on the fact that Stone Edge would manage to get through to inflict some serious, if not fatal, damage on Blastoise, with Golem surviving Blastoise's counterattack. However, while using Rapid Spin, Blastoise had landed a blow on Golem, inflicting minimal damage, but doing enough so that Sturdy would no longer come into play. It was a smart, and also obvious in hindsight, strategy; and definitely one that Leaf would have used. That cinched it for Giovanni. Ash had grown, especially since he had met his twin sister and he was now facing what amounted to a different Ash Ketchum, at least as far as Pokémon battles were concerned.

Giovanni pulled out his Poké Ball and called back Golem. He then grabbed another ball and tossed it into the air. The next Pokémon to emerge was Electivire. He grinned as he knew that Ash's likely counter to Electivire would be either Gliscor or Donphan; and when he sent out his next Pokémon, it would be in for a big surprise. Sure enough, the next Pokémon that Ash sent out was Donphan. He then yelled to Electivire, "Electivire, use Ice Punch!"

Electricity crackled between its antennae as it began to charge towards Donphan. As it charged, it drew back its fist, a white glow surrounding it along with some snowflakes. Donphan looked sternly at the approaching Electric-type as Ash cried, "Donphan, use Earthquake!"

Donphan then stomped the ground and the entire pad began to shake and Giovanni staggered backwards a few steps, struggling to maintain his footing. Even the officials had a hard time maintaining their footing. The same could not be said about Ash, though, who stood tall through the entire attack. Electivire, however, had the most difficult time maintaining its balance during the attack. Being an Electric-type hurt as well since it was weak to Ground-type attacks, which Earthquake was. As a result, the move took down Electivire in one hit. "Electivire is unable to battle. Donphan is the winner!" cried the officials.

Giovanni gritted his teeth and began to look concerned. He had lost two Pokémon in rapid succession and Ash's Pokémon had not come anywhere close to breaking a sweat against him. His Pokémon were like children going up against adults. Before choosing his next Pokémon, he carefully went over all of his options and plans, realizing that this next battle would be crucial.

Meanwhile, down in the lower basement levels of the base, Mia made her way towards the stairwell that would hopefully take her up to Ash. She soon found the stairwell and stopped for a second, prompting her Pokémon friends to stop with her. She then stood perfectly still and closed her eyes, her twin bond with Ash flaring. She soon got the sensation that he was at the top of the base, battling Giovanni. He did not seem to be in danger, but she did not want to take any chances. Wasting no time, she ran into the stairwell and ascended the stairs. As she was running, Tyranitar and Venusaur came up behind her, bellowing a question to her with a series of grunts and growls. She did not need a Pokédex translation to know what they were asking.

"My brother is at the top of the building battling Giovanni," she told them. "We have to get to him as quickly as possible."

Tyranitar soon grunted another question in a smug tone. Mia grimaced, knowing exactly what he was asking. "It's not that simple," she answered. "Yes he managed to beat me but just because he beat me and I beat Giovanni doesn't mean that he'll beat Giovanni. First off, there are likely going to be a lot of Rockets going up to support their boss. Second of all, Ash doesn't have any experience battling against Giovanni. He won't know what to look out for, or what tricks and traps that Giovanni will use."

Venusaur then grunted a statement in a reassuring tone using his name numerous times. Mia gave a kind smile. "I know, Venusaur. He'll likely beat Giovanni. It's what will happen after that concerns me."

The two soon made their way to the end of the stairwell, which was stated to end at the ground level. The lobby was not the most important thing on the ground floor. The security center was also on that level at the rear of the base, which was where Mia was currently located. She turned to her right and headed towards the door, peering through the glass window to see if there were any Rockets in her line of sight. Seeing none, she pulled the door open and rushed on in, pulling out her Ray Gun and holding it in front of her, peering down the corridor. She soon stepped out into the open, followed by her Pokémon. She turned to the right and led the way, with Venusaur and Tyranitar joining her in the lead, and with Jolteon bringing up the rear, looking backwards to make sure that they were not attacked from behind.

As they moved forward, Mia looked back at Starmie, inquiring, "Anything of importance?"

The starfish-like Pokémon spun around as its core glowed. The images of the base's floor, and the rooms that were occupied entered the girl's mind. They flashed before her like photo stills for an instant before disappearing. Still, with each image that came to her mind, she was able to know everything that was going on in said room at the moment the image appeared. One of the images just happened to be that of the security defense center. She had seen the image of the base's Chief of Security, along with several other Rocket grunts and officers appear in the image. They had been busy working at their stations trying to coordinate the security of the base. A dark grin crossed her face as she realized that she could not only disrupt their security coordination, but also contact the Pokémon League and tell them exactly where Team Rocket's base was located. She also found the stairwell that would take her to the upper levels, and to Ash. She would deal with that later, though. She had a chance to cripple their internal security and she would not let it go to waste. And with Ash handling Giovanni for the time being, she felt as if taking down the security center would be more important, especially since it would likely prevent backup from reaching Giovanni.

Gathering her Pokémon together, she told them, "Okay everyone, we're going to take down the security center and start playing havoc with the base's security. We'll also be wanting to contact the Pokémon League, too, so make sure that at least one of the operators is alive when we clear the place so Venusaur is going to take the lead, with Starmie backing him up."

This brought a melancholy groan from Tyranitar, prompting the girl to smile. Tyranitar did not like playing second fiddle to anyone. The only one he would bow to or step aside for was Mia, and that was because she had proven herself on numerous occasions. And even then, they still clashed on occasion. Still, he could see the wisdom in Mia's decision and as such, he decided to let Venusaur and Starmie take the lead.

Once the plan of attack had been decided, she made her way over to the security center. It was situated behind a large set of gray double doors. She saw a keypad to the side of the door and glanced over to Starmie. "Starmie, can you get me the combination to the doors?"

Starmie nodded and spun around as its core glowed. Immediately, the combination to the security center appeared in Mia's mind: one, zero, fifty-three, forty, and thirty-four. After putting in the code, the doors began to slide open. The girl and her Pokémon stepped back so that they would remain invisible to the Rockets as they launched their attack. Glancing over to Venusaur and Starmie, she gave a nod, which was the signal to attack.

Just then, Mia and her Pokémon stormed into the security center. Venusaur began the assault by unleashing a cloud of Sleep Powder at the security officers. Several of the officers were taken completely off guard and were put to sleep before they could even draw their weapons or deploy their Pokémon. A few others, however, had been more alert and the moment Mia and her Pokémon appeared, they sprang into action. One guard rose, raising his gun and drawing a bead on the young teenage girl that had stormed the center. He did not care that the intruder was Leaf, the living incarnation of Team Rocket's worst nightmare. To him, she was merely an enemy and intruder that had to be dealt with. He went to fire on her but Mia beat him to the punch and fired a single shot from her Ray Gun, striking him in the chest and felling the Rocket instantly. A second Rocket had drawn a bead on her, only to be taken down by a Thunderbolt from Jolteon. Tyranitar dealt with two Rocket grunts that had attempted to draw their Ray Guns on him with a single Superpower punch, launching the Rockets into the air and sending them crashing to the wall. Mia facepalmed as Tyranitar dealt with the Rockets, along with taking down another unfortunate Rocket by simply jumping up and landing on him, crushing him.

Soon, the Chief of Security rose from his station and unclipped his five Poké Balls from his belt, tossing them into the air mere moments later. The balls opened and out came five glowing blue blobs of energy that formed into Heatran, a Pokémon that looked to be a cross between a tortoise and a ram with a reddish brown body, gray head and underside, and gray bangles locked on its legs; Shaymin, a hedgehog-like Pokémon with a pure white body with green grass growing out of its back along with pink flowers, and three large golem-like Pokémon that Mia recognized as the Regi Trio, Regirock, Regice, and Registeel, each one looking like the element that their name represented. Marsden also had a pink flower on him, which he then placed onto the Shaymin. "Let's see how well the Badge Amplifier works," he said as he watched Shaymin glow and transform from a hedgehog-like Pokémon to a small, reindeer-like Pokémon with a mostly white body but green and white legs, which were longer and more pronounced. It also had white, wing-like ears as well, which allowed it to fly. Shaymin immediately took flight and began to target Mia's Pokémon, zeroing in on Starmie first. "Shaymin, use Seed Flare on the girl's Starmie!" Marsden cried.

Shaymin targeted the starfish-like Pokémon and began to glow in preparation of launching the attack. Before it could launch the attack, though, Starmie and Chandelure targeted the Pokémon with Ice Beam and Fire Blast respectively. Both attacks scored direct hits on Shaymin, Fire Blast striking first, with Ice Beam hitting second. The explosion of fire engulfed Shaymin and forced it back, causing it to cry out in pain, with Ice Beam scoring a direct hit as well, forcing it back even further. Despite taking two super effective attacks, though, Shaymin was still able to get its attack off. An explosion of green light was unleashed at both Pokémon. Chandelure rushed in front of Starmie to protect its comrade from the attack. Chandelure took the full brunt of the attack and despite its resistance to the attack, it still suffered significant damage. Had Starmie taken the hit, it would have likely fainted. However, Chandelure would not be taken down so easily from an attack that it had a type advantage against. It quickly recovered and launched another Fire Blast at Shaymin, with Starmie joining in on the Ice Beam. Both attacks hit the Grass/Flying-type Pokémon, with Ice Beam hitting second. This time, the Ice Beam managed to freeze Shaymin solid. Once Shaymin was frozen, Chandelure could take its time in finishing off the Legendary Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Tyranitar, Garchomp, and Jolteon were dealing with Heatran. Marsden began the battle by ordering, "Heatran use Fire Spin on that Venusaur!"

Heatran nodded and complied with the order, powering the Fire-type attack. It then unleashed a vicious, spinning stream of flame at Venusaur. However, the attack was difficult to aim and Venusaur used his vines to latch onto an overhanging light and pull himself out of the attack's path. That left Heatran open to a double Earthquake from Garchomp and Tyranitar. Jolteon, not wanting to get caught in the attack, himself, jumped onto Venusaur's back while Tyranitar and Garchomp dealt with Heatran. They stomped the ground and the ground began to tremble and shake violently. Both Tyranitar and Garchomp held firm as they sustained damage from each other's attack. Still, the one who was really suffering was Heatran, due to its Fire and Steel-typing, as well as Regirock and Registeel, who due to their Rock and Steel-typing, respectively, also sustained super effective damage. Still, despite sustaining two attacks that had a quadruple type advantage against it, the Fire/Steel-type Pokémon was still able to battle, as were the two golems. That would not last long, though, for Tyranitar and Garchomp were quickly joined by Starmie, who unleashed a massive Hydro Pump on Heatran. The water-type attack was enough to do in Heatran and it promptly fell to the floor, unconscious. Next, Mia's Pokémon turned their attention towards the Regi Golems.

Marsden was in complete shock as Heatran was defeated. Turning to Shaymin, he saw that Chandelure had just finished dealing with it, too, taking it down with a Shadow Ball. That only left the Regi golems. Regirock, who had suffered significant damage from Tyranitar and Garchomp's Earthquake attacks, charged towards the two Pokémon, preparing to use Stone Edge on Chandelure in order to finish off the Ghost/Fire-type. Things did not go as planned, though, since Garchomp quickly stood in front of Chandelure and intercepted the attack, suffering moderate damage from the Legendary's attack. Garchomp then finished off the golem with an Earthquake of its own, prompting Mia to recall Tyranitar and Jolteon, with Starmie lifting itself and Venusaur into the air while that attack took its course. The attack was more than powerful enough to take down Regirock, along with Registeel, who had not even been able to get off its Flash Cannon before being taken down. The golems quickly fell, leaving only Regice to go against the rest of Mia's team. As Venusaur was floating in the air, he quickly loosed a cloud of Sleep Powder on the remaining Legendary Golem. The cloud fell upon the Pokémon, despite its best effort to take down Venusaur before he could unleash the cloud, a task made difficult by Starmie using Psychic to allow Venusaur to maneuver away from Regice's Ice Beam. This allowed the cloud to land on Regice and put it to sleep, not that it would have been all that necessary since Chandelure quickly launched a Fire Blast at the remaining Regi Golem. The blast of fire scored a direct hit on the center of mass with Regice and, along with the damage it had suffered earlier from the Earthquakes, was unable to continue to fight. It fell to the floor with a thud that shook the room and lay there with swirls in its eyes, showing that it had fainted.

Things were quickly going from bad to worse for the Rocket Chief of Security. Starmie soon turned to face him and its core glowed for a single second as Marsden went for his side arm. Before he could draw his Ray Gun, though, Starmie let loose with a single Ice Beam. The forking beam of freezing energy scored a direct hit on Marsden and a sheet of ice formed over his chest. The sheet of ice rapidly expanded until it encompassed his entire body. As he was being dealt with, Mia had let out the rest of her team that had been recalled during Garchomp's Earthquake, allowing them to finish off the few remaining security personnel that were stationed in the center. Within seconds, the remaining security personnel and the few Pokémon they had fighting for them were defeated and left on the ground either unconscious or dead.

Once the battle was over, Mia went over to Marsden and took his Poké Balls. Pushing a single button on them, she released the now fainted Heatran and Shaymin from their captivity. She also did the same for the Regi Golems. When that was finished she went over to the primary control console and studied it. She was shocked at how everything was labeled, making it far easier for anyone to be able to use the computer than it should have been. She glanced over to Starmie questioningly. _Could this actually be as easy as it looks_? she wondered. Starmie's nod told her everything she needed to know. Still, the Pokémon transferred the knowledge to operate the machine to her mind, which she did not object to at all.

She then input a series of commands to place all sectors on the screen. Soon, the large screen in the center of the wall lit up with a large number of images from all over the base. Many of them showed the unconscious or dead forms of Rocket grunts and officers. An image in the lobby showed the fallen forms of several Rockets and Pokémon. However, there were no signs of battle. Either they were casualties from Ash's initial entrance, which she doubted, or her mother and brother's friends had made their way past the initial defenses. She checked the exterior of the base and saw several more Rockets and Pokémon lying on the ground, but no sign of her family and friends. Pushing another button, she soon saw the image of the roof. There, she saw Ash and Giovanni fighting in a Pokémon battle. So far, Ash seemed to be doing quite well, as Donphan was making short work of Giovanni's Electivire. She then shifted her sight to another image. This was of an internal hangar. Inside the hangar was what looked to be an emergency evacuation helicopter. Inside the hangar, though, she found several Rocket grunts, as well as two scientists, both of whom she recognized. She activated the speakers and listened as one of the scientists, Dr. Zager, complained, "What's taking Team Two so long? The base is under attack and we have to get going before we're discovered."

"Keep your shirt on, Dr. Zager," the second scientist, who Mia recognized as Gideon, scoffed. "They'll get here soon enough. Besides, no one knows about this mission except us and the boss. Even if something happens to Giovanni, we should still be okay since we'll be the ranking officials in the organization. And with that Unova code from Team Plasma now having been deciphered and modified, once we get to Goldenrod City's Radio Tower, we'll be able to transmit it to every city and town in Japan and along with our Badge Amplifier, take over all Trainer owned Pokémon and make them a part of Team Rocket."

Dr. Zager gave a gruff sigh as he continued to wait, tapping his foot. It was obvious that he did not like Gideon discussing the intricate details and goals of the plan. Mia's eyes went wide with shock at what she had heard. She had suspected that Team Rocket was planning something; she just did not expect it to be something this big, or this game changing. If they were successful with their plan, then they would theoretically control all Trainer owned Pokémon. They could raise an army and take on the United Earth's leadership, or even the Galactic Federation leadership since they could use the Psychic-type Pokémon to mind-control the Federation leaders into doing whatever they wanted. This plan had to be stopped, no matter the cost.

She rushed over to a panel and pushed a button. The panel retracted and a series of unused datapads were revealed. She quickly pulled out one of the pads and activated it. She then rushed back over to the main console and plugged the pad in. Inputting another series of commands, she put up a map of the base, pointing the way from the security control room to the hangar. Once that was complete, she downloaded the map to the datapad and disconnected it from the main computer. Once that was complete, she went and did a data search for the code. Seeing that it had been stored in the base's main memory, which was located in the security control center, she decided that the best way to destroy the main repository for the code was to delete the main computer and then outright destroy it. Before doing that, though, she wanted to contact the Pokémon League, Cynthia, and Lance and inform them of the situation, just in case she failed.

She input a series of commands and the map of the base disappeared. She input the Cynthia's phone number and waited as she heard a ringtone at the other end of the line. Soon, Cynthia's voice sounded as she answered, "Hello, who is this?"

"This is Mia," Mia answered. "I'm at the security control center inside of Team Rocket's base. How is everything going on your end?"

"The police have all apprehended the survivors of the raid. We've been searching for you nonstop. What's your location?"

Mia then input a series of commands into the computer, finishing off with a strong push of the Enter key. "I'm sending you the base's coordinates now."

A second passed before Cynthia told her, "I've got them. Lance and Professor Oak are with me too. How are you? Are you okay?"

"For the moment," Mia answered. "I've learned that Team Rocket's plan is to use a modified form of Team Plasma's code for releasing all Trainer owned Pokémon to transfer all those Pokémon to Team Rocket, instead. They also have a Badge Amplifier, which amplifies the controlling attributes of the various Gym Leader Badges. That Badge Amplifier even allows them to control Legendary Pokémon, for I've already battled a Heatran, a Shaymin, as well as all three of the Regi Golems. As for the code, they're going to go to Goldenrod City's Radio Tower and likely use that as the transmitter for the code. I'm going to try to stop them but should I fail, it'll be up to you to finish where I left off."

"We're on it. Lance will go to Goldenrod City to make sure that even if they do escape, they'll be intercepted. I'll be coming to join you, along with some backup. You be careful in your quest, Mia. You're too valuable to lose."

"I don't intend on this base being my final resting place," the young teen answered.

"Good luck," Cynthia wished.

"You too," Mia replied.

With that, the line was severed. All that needed to be done now was to shut down the main computer. Without it, Team Rocket would be blind, deaf, and unable to coordinate the defenses of the base. She scanned the computer and found the off switch in a very conspicuous position. Looking over at Starmie, projected the question of whether or not it was actually as easy to shut off the computer as it seemed. Surprisingly, Starmie indicated through a series of telepathic images that it _was_ as easy as it seemed. She then pushed the off switch and the computer screens and consoles went dark, the faint hum of the computers lowering in pitch before going completely silent. Once the computer was shut down, Mia checked her datapad. The map of the base appeared on the pad, along with all of the important areas. She quickly found them and focused on the path to the main hangar where Team Rocket was about to embark on another part of their master plan. She knew had to stop the Team Rocket scientists from escaping the base.

Before leaving, though, she scoured the room for any weapons or tools that might help her on her quest. In one alcove, she found a bazooka-like weapon that strongly resembled a Super Nintendo Super Scope. Again, she was surprised at the sight of the weapon, for while she had heard of such weapons before, they were not in widespread use by the Galactic Federation, but were still powerful enough to be restricted. She began to wonder how Team Rocket had managed to get a hold of such a weapon. Thinking nothing more of it, she grabbed the bazooka-like weapon and slung it over her shoulder. She also found a few orange spheres that were encased in some form of adhesive. She figured that they were either grenades or bombs of some sort. She took them, too, just in case she needed extra firepower.

Once she had gotten her weaponry, she gathered her Pokémon and told them, "Follow me everyone. We're not done in this base yet. We have to stop the rest of Team Rocket from escaping before it's too late."

She then exited the room and led the way down the corridor, followed by her Pokémon friends. She then followed the map on her datapad as she took the shortest route to the hangar, hoping to stop Dr. Zager, Gideon, and their forces from escaping before it was too late.

Meanwhile, back on the helipad near the roof of the base, Giovanni sent out his third Pokémon. "Go Cloyster!" he cried. The Poké Ball opened and out came a clam-like Pokémon with a spiky purple shell that opened horizontally with a black spherical head in the center. As it emerged from its Poké Ball, it landed and cried, "Cloyster," in a deep voice with an echo.

Ash pulled out Donphan's Poké Ball and returned the Ground type Pokémon to it. Next, he glanced down at Pikachu and nodded, prompting Pikachu to clench his fingers into a fist. "You're up next, buddy," Ash said. "Go!"

Pikachu gave a cry and rushed onto the battlefield, electricity crackling about his cheeks. Giovanni began the next battle by crying, "Cloyster, use Shell Smash!" He knew that freezing the ground in front of Pikachu to keep it from moving would not be wise since Pikachu could easily attack from range. Still, Pikachu did not have all that great a defense and his mobility was just as useful a tool as his special attack ability.

Cloyster's head began to glow white and the glow soon began to expand to the rest of the body. Red cracks soon formed on Cloyster's body and the energy soon came off the oyster-like Pokémon's body as if they had been pieces of the shell. While Cloyster had used Shell Smash, Pikachu unleashed a Thunderbolt on the Water/Ice-type Pokémon. The bolt of lightning erupted from Pikachu's cheeks and scored a direct hit on Cloyster. The large clam-like Pokémon gave a cry of pain as it was hit and electricity arced across its body. Since Cloyster's Special Defense was not nearly as strong as its normal Defense, it was taken down with the single Thunderbolt before it could launch any attacks of its own. The Pokémon fell to its side and swirls appeared in its eyes, signifying that it could no longer battle.

"Cloyster is unable to battle. Pikachu is the winner!" the officials called. However, their voices seemed to express shock at the ease with which Ash and his Pokémon were slaughtering Giovanni's team, something that he was quick to notice.

Across the helipad, Giovanni could only stare in shock at the power of Ash's Pokémon. He had heard that they were powerful; they had to be if they could defeat Leaf's Pokémon, but this was something else. They were taking his Pokémon down with single hits and little more than single hits. He had to do something fast or this battle would end in disaster, even should his backup plan come into play. Before deploying his next Pokémon, he stooped down and opened his briefcase. He reached in and pulled out a device that looked like it was designed to be worn around the wrist. He quickly put the device over his left wrist and stood up, facing the boy once more. Ash recognized this as a Wonder Launcher and prepared for Giovanni to unveil a trap. Looking over to Giovanni, he called, "Giovanni, remember that Pokémon League rules stipulate that we need to agree before the battle to allow the use of the Wonder Launcher."

Giovanni ignored Ash's remark and gripped his next Poké Ball and tossed it into the air. Out came Tauros. Tauros landed next to the fallen Cloyster, who Giovanni had yet to return to his Poké Ball. The leader of Team Rocket then took out a small disk and placed it inside his Wonder Launcher. He then targeted Cloyster and a golden star-shaped pulse of light erupted from the Launcher, striking Cloyster. Immediately, the clam-like Pokémon regained consciousness and rose, taking its place besides Tauros.

Ash, seeing that Giovanni had used the Wonder Launcher to give Cloyster a Max Revive, looked over at the officials and blurted, "Giovanni has broken the rules by using a Wonder Launcher when it is forbidden without prior consent by both Trainers. Therefore, I should be declared the winner."

"We never agreed to _not_ allow its use," Giovanni countered with a grin. He looked over at the officials, still grinning.

"He is right," the male referee stated, a little too easily for Ash's liking. He knew that the referees were a part of Team Rocket, but he could not help but think that there was something else going on here, too. "There was no verbal declaration that the Wonder Launcher was forbidden in this battle. In addition, it was never stated that a revived Pokémon was not allowed to fight alongside another Pokémon that was deployed on the field," the official continued, anticipating Ash's next argument.

"Indeed," the female referee agreed, nodding, having no problem with the loophole.

"What?" Ash blurted, barely able to contain himself.

"Those are our decisions," the two officials yelled at him in unison, almost causing him to recoil. "You must abide by them. You, however, are still to abide by the original rules. _You_ may not use a Wonder Launcher or use two Pokémon in battle. You and/or your Pokémon also may _not_ launch a direct attack Giovanni at all."

Ash wanted to protest but he was too stunned at the decisions. He could scarcely believe what he was hearing. It was obvious that the officials were siding with Giovanni in this battle and were doing everything in their power to ensure that he wound up winning. The question was why. Was it simply because his Pokémon were so much stronger than Giovanni's? No, it had to be something else, something more sinister, given how they had practically yelled at him just now when they had made their declarations. Something was going on here, something bad. Still, he would play their game and figure out what it was. If it came right down to it, he and his Pokémon could fight them and still manage to capture Giovanni, or neutralize him in other ways if it came down to it, and find out what where Mia was. For now, though, he would play their game until their true motives were revealed. Turning back to Pikachu, he cried, "Pikachu, use Double Team!"

Pikachu obeyed and suddenly, multiple illusory copies of Pikachu appeared. Giovanni's Pokémon glanced around the area, unable to distinguish the real Pikachu from the illusory copies. Giovanni gritted his teeth. Despite the ability to use the Wonder Launcher, Ash was still a powerful Trainer, more so than he had anticipated. In addition, his Pokémon were growing, for he had never heard of Pikachu using Double Team before. He had to think of something fast. He then yelled to his team, "Cloyster, use Shell Smash! Tauros, use Earthquake!" It was risky to use Shell Smash and Earthquake at the same time, especially since Shell Smash would drastically lower Cloyster's Defense, but he figured that it would be the best chance he had of taking down Pikachu since Earthquake was a difficult attack to avoid.

Cloyster's soon began to glow white with red cracks appearing on its body. The white energy soon burst off of Cloyster's shell as if they were pieces of shell. As Cloyster was using Shell Smash, Tauros stomped on the ground, causing it to tremor. Cloyster gave a grunt of pain and annoyance as the rings of energy produced from the Earthquake struck him, along with the cracking of the ground along with its shaking. Pikachu, however, managed to jump over the shockwaves using his tail as a spring. He leapt high into the air as the initial shockwave passed beneath him. He landed softly and kept his footing as the ground continued to tremor. He found it difficult to maintain his footing, but he was able to do so and did not sustain any damage.

"Cloyster, use Icicle Spear!" Giovanni cried.

Ice shards soon formed over the spikes on Cloyster's shell. It soon fired the shards of ice at the Pikachus that were approaching. The first Pikachu was an illusion and it was the first to disappear upon taking a hit. Soon, another Pikachu took a hit and it, too, disappeared. This continued until the attack ran its course and Cloyster had to wait for more spikes to form before being able to use the attack again.

Knowing that this was his best chance to finish off Cloyster, Pikachu used Thunderbolt on Cloyster. The bolt of lightning erupted from cheeks and struck the clam once more. The electrical attack was more than sufficient to take down the weakened Cloyster. Once again, Cloyster fell and swirls appeared in its eyes, indicating that it was unconscious.

Giovanni grimaced as Cloyster was taken down again without being able to inflict any damage on any of Ash's team, let alone actually take any of them down. For a moment, he contemplated using his last Max Revive on Cloyster again just to annoy Ash and see if it would take him off his game. Dossiers on Ash said that it was far easier to rattle him than it was for Leaf. Still, this Ash was far different from the little kid that had failed to learn the lessons of his previous League losses before finally winning one and going to the Champions' League. He quickly decided against using his Max Revive on Cloyster, though, since he had a number of other, more worthwhile, Pokémon that he could use it on.

He drew out his next Poké Ball and tossed it into the air. It opened and revealed an Aggron. Ash was surprised at this choice of Pokémon since Tauros's most effective attack was Earthquake. He glanced down at Pikachu and directed, "Pikachu return!"

Pikachu looked back at Ash, its surprise evident on its face. Ash merely nodded. "Don't worry Pikachu. I've got a plan."

Pikachu then returned to Ash and jumped onto his shoulder. Ash next pulled out another Poké Ball and tossed it into the air. "Charizard, I choose you!" he declared as the ball reached the apex of its throw. It opened and out came the Fire/Flying-type dragon. Before allowing Charizard to go onto the battlefield, he went over to him and whispered something into his ear. He made sure that Pikachu could also hear what he was saying as well. Charizard gave an almost sadistic grin as he listened to what Ash told him. Once he was finished, Ash pointed towards the battlefield and Charizard rushed out to meet his next opponent. Giovanni grimaced. Aggron's strongest move was Earthquake and, while powerful against a grounded Fire-type Pokémon, if Charizard decided to fly, it would be useless. Still, he had few other options and in the end, he went for broke and cried, "Aggron, Tauros, use Earthquake!" His hope was that they would perform the move fast enough to catch Charizard while he was still on the ground.

Both Pokémon stomped on the ground and the helipad began to shake once more. Rings erupted from the epicenters of their stomps and the metal of the pad began to crack. Charizard, however, was not bothered by the shaking ground. Flapping his wings, he took off into the air and hovered a few feet above the ground, allowing the shockwaves from the Earthquake to pass beneath him. Ash gave a look of surprise and disdain as Giovanni had issued a command that would hurt both of his Pokémon for the off chance that he might somehow catch Charizard off guard. Both Aggron and Tauros gave grunts of pain as they each sustained damage from the other's Earthquake. Charizard responded by unleashing a Flamethrower directly at the two Pokémon. Aggron immediately fell to the searing flame, while Tauros attempted to use Rock Slide in order to take down the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon. A series of rocks were launched into the sky with an unknown power, targeting Charizard. The dragon banked to the right and allowed the rocks to sail upwards into the sky and out of sight. A second Flamethrower was more than enough to finish off Tauros. The bull-like Pokémon fell to the attack, the swirls in his eyes indicating that he was no longer able to battle.

The officials glanced over at Giovanni as he placed another disc inside his Wonder Launcher, wondering if they should call this match or if he planned on using his Wonder Launcher to revive one of the Pokémon. He prepared to fire a Max Revive at Tauros once more when a jet of bolt of lightning came streaking towards him. His face went wide with shock as Pikachu rushed towards him at blinding speed and attacked, the mouse's tail covered in metal. He gasped and covered his face, anticipating that Pikachu was going for his head when he suddenly felt a thump on his left arm. Suddenly, his eyes flashed with dread and he looked down and saw that the Iron Tail had struck the Wonder Launcher, for the device had numerous cracks with sparks of electricity emanating from the cracks. He frantically pointed it at Tauros and attempted to fire the Max Revive at his fallen Pokémon. Instead, though, he saw a white light emerge from the cracks in the Launcher, prompting him to tear it off his arm and throw it away before it exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel. Fortunately, he was able to do so before it exploded and tore off his arm at best.

The officials then held up their hands and cried, "Ash has violated the rules of the battle by having his Pokémon attack Giovanni directly! Not only that, but he also has two Pokémon on the battlefield."

Ash scowled. "I didn't attack him at all," he countered, looking sternly at the officials. The officials quickly noticed that Charizard was no longer out on the battlefield either, having been replaced by Pikachu. "Pikachu specifically targeted the Wonder Launcher, not Giovanni, and I recalled Charizard before Pikachu launched his attack. I can't help it if Giovanni was wearing the Launcher at the time Pikachu attacked or if he did not notice me recalling Charizard before the attack was initiated. In addition, there was no agreement that said that the _Wonder Launcher_ was not a viable target." He gave a satisfied grin as the officials recoiled as if they had just taken a punch to the mouth.

The officials glanced worriedly at one another, and then back at Giovanni. Eventually, they shrugged and said, "Very well. Champion Ash has a point. He has not broken the rules. Continue the battle!" they called, their arms held high.

_If this can be considered a battle_, Giovanni thought sarcastically. For Giovanni, this was the shock of his life. Was he really this out of practice? "Both Tauros and Aggron are unable to battle. Pikachu, or rather Charizard, is the winner."

Giovanni grimaced as he returned both fallen Pokémon to their Poké Balls. He then looked down at Persian. It was his only Pokémon left. Eventually, he cried, "Persian, go!"

The cougar-like Pokémon jumped forward and crouched, growling as it gazed at Pikachu, Ash's first Pokémon and best friend. Pikachu's cheeks crackled with electricity. Ash knew that Persian was the evolved form of Meowth but that did not enter into his decision to allow Pikachu to continue the battle. He simply had the feeling that Persian was Giovanni's first and/or favorite Pokémon. He would have this battle decided in a starter versus starter battle.

Back inside the base, Mia had followed the map to the hangar where Gideon and Dr. Zager were assembling their team for an attack on Goldenrod City's Radio Tower. Along the way, she and her Pokémon had encountered some security patrols but they had not really been issues, each of them having been dispatched with contemptuous ease. In addition, she had taken the time to administer to her Pokémon's needs so that they would be at full strength when she launched her raid on the hangar. Eventually, the group reached the hangar bay, which was being guarded by two Rocket guards wearing Roman centurion style armor. Next to the Rockets were a Salamence and an Aggron. Mia quickly ducked into an adjacent corridor so she and her Pokémon would not be spotted. Turning to her Pokémon, she said, "Venusaur, Tyranitar, Starmie, it's your show."

Both Pokémon nodded and then emerged from the corridor, heading towards the hangar. As they ran to the hangar, Venusaur propelled a cloud of Sleep Powder towards the Rockets and their Pokémon. The Pokémon and guards turned to the sounds of the footfalls of the Pokémon and spotted them, but it was too late, for the powder cloud had already fallen upon them. The Rocket guards attempted to draw two cell phone-like devices from their uniforms and sound the alarm for the scientists and their grunts, but they were weakening fast. In mere seconds, they had been put fast asleep. Their Pokémon fared no better, unable to launch a single attack before falling to the cloud of Sleep Powder.

Once the Pokémon were taken down, Mia entered the corridor with the rest of her Pokémon and she went over to the fallen Rockets and took their Poké Balls. She then returned the Pokémon to their Poké Balls and hid them away from the Rockets. Noticing that she had not killed the fallen Rockets or ordered her Pokémon to knock out the sleeping Pokémon before returning them to their Poké Balls, she commented, "My brother's rubbing off on me."

Her comment drew a chuckle from both Venusaur and Tyranitar. She quickly turned her head to the sound of the chuckles and glared at them. "What is it?" she asked in a cold, hard voice. Her question promptly caused the Pokémon to stop chuckling and refocus on the task at hand.

She and her team then made their way to the hangar doors and peered through. The interior of the hangar was sparsely furnished and had nothing inside, save for a large twin rotored helicopter with Team Rocket's iconic red R on the side. The boarding ramp to the helicopter was down and there were the Team Rocket scientists, along with several Rocket grunts and even a few agents and officers standing close to it. Focusing on the helicopter, she found that the grunts were loading weapons, cargo, and personnel onto it, along with a computer. She suspected that the computer had the Pokémon transfer program. A blur of motion caught her eye and she glanced around the hangar to spot its source. Just in front of the helicopter, she spotted the Legendary Beasts, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune standing watch as if they were protecting the vehicle. They soon turned and focused on the door as if they sensed someone spying on them, causing Mia to quickly duck down to avoid being spotted. She took her Pokémon aside and explained the situation, "Okay guys, it looks like we may have some issues. There are Legendary Pokémon inside that hangar protecting the helicopter along with the regular force of Rocket grunts, agents, and officers. Chances are we'll get bogged down into a protracted Pokémon battle in a big hurry if we don't neutralize the Legendaries at the earliest opportunity. That would allow the Rockets all the time they would need in order to escape and even with Lance going to Goldenrod City to intercept them should they escape, I'd rather neutralize them here. To that end, here's the plan. Venusaur, you'll go in first, backed up by Starmie and Tyranitar." Turning to Starmie and Tyranitar, she told them, "You'll be the bodyguards for Venusaur. Venusaur has a type advantage over Suicune, and a type resistance to Raikou, but is at a disadvantage against Entei. His Sleep Powder, however, can put them all to sleep with one move, or at least make them drowsy. I'll need you to engage Entei and keep it busy while Venusaur tries to put the Legendaries to sleep."

The Pokémon each nodded. Turning to Garchomp, Chandelure, and Jolteon, she told them, "Jolteon, should Plan A fail, you're going to deal with Suicune. Suicune will likely either know Aurora Beam or Ice Beam, both of which can do a number to Venusaur so you might need to enter the fight quickly. You'll need to keep it distracted, if not take it down before it can even start to fight."

Jolteon nodded and gave a confident cry. "Chandelure, you'll help out Tyranitar and Starmie against Entei while Garchomp will deal with Raikou, given that you're immune to electrical attacks. Chances are that you'll be able to take down Entei pretty quickly, and Raikou not long after. Once Entei's down, help out with the rest of the Legendaries if needed. While you're dealing with the Legendaries, I'll be working to keep the helicopter grounded, and also cover you against any attacks from any other enemy Pokémon. I'm Team Rocket's most hated and most wanted enemy. They won't resist the chance to try to take me down." The last bit was said with a bit of pride. "Okay, do you all know your roles?"

The Pokémon nodded.

"Alright then, let's move!" she cried. She then went over to the hangar door and planted two of the Gooey Bombs that she had acquired from the security control center's stockpile and stuck them to the door, suspecting that it also could double as a blast door. She then fled down the hall with her Pokémon as the bombs began to glow. It took more than ten seconds before the bombs exploded, but once they did, their explosions blew a hole into the door large enough to fit even her largest of Pokémon, as well as sending large pieces of shrapnel into the hangar, hopefully dealing some damage to the Rocket forces inside.

Mia and Venusaur were the first to enter the hangar. They were in luck, for the explosion had not only blown a large hole in the hangar door, but had killed two Rockets who had been sent to investigate the appearance of a suspicious person peering through the door. When she entered, she opened fire with her Ray Gun on the closest of the Rocket grunts that had been coming to investigate when the door had been blown in, felling two of them, while Venusaur let loose a cloud of Sleep Powder. Mia quickly ducked back behind the Pokémon so that the cloud would not make contact with her and put _her_ to sleep.

The Legendaries were quick to spot Venusaur and Entei was about to unleash a Flamethrower to incinerate the powder cloud when a barrage of stones were unleashed towards Legendary Beast, along with a stream of water, while a green ball of energy was sent Suicune's way. Garchomp quickly followed behind and charged towards Raikou, raking a Dragon Claw across the face of the Legendary Beast, causing it to recoil and roar in pain. Starmie's Hydro Pump, managed to neutralize a Fire Blast attack unleashed by Entei and the retaliatory Stone Edge from Tyranitar scored a direct hit on the beast, forcing it backwards a few more feet. Despite this, though, the Legendary Beasts were still able to fight. They quickly backed away, using the helicopter as cover so they could avoid the cloud of Sleep Powder. The same could not be said of the remaining Rockets, though, as they were quickly rendered unconscious by the cloud of powder.

Not all of the Rockets were caught in the cloud, though. Dr. Zager had been close to the helicopter when Mia's attack had begun and, not wanting to risk engaging her, had rushed to board the helicopter. As soon as he had boarded, he had ordered the copilot to close the boarding hatch, leaving the other Rocket soldiers to deal with Mia and her Pokémon. Once inside, he half ordered, half yelled, "Pilot, take off now!"

"But sir, many of the troops we'll need to get into Goldenrod City's Radio Tower are still outside!" the pilot protested.

"Take off now; we can't wait! Leaf's out there fighting to either keep us grounded or destroy us, which means that she likely knows of our mission and is here to stop us. Besides, we're armed a large array of weaponry. Our current forces should be sufficient to take Goldenrod's Radio Tower, especially if we catch them off guard. Now start this thing up and get us out of here!"

"Very well, sir," the Rocket relented. He then started up the helicopter and the rotors began to twirl.

Outside the helicopter, Mia noticed the rotors on the behemoth begin to spin. All around the helicopter, the few Rockets that had not succumbed to the Sleep Powder cloud cried, "No, wait! What about us? Don't leave us here!"

"Take out that girl now!" Dr. Zager's voice almost roared over the loudspeaker. Despite being a subordinate of Gideon, he spoke as if he was the one with all the authority. "We need protection while this thing gets up to full power!"

The Rockets realized that they were in no position to argue and that Zager was likely saving the mission by leaving them outside, but they still did not like it. Still, they preferred the chance to take down Leaf to being inside what would amount to a metal coffin if she were not stopped, so they decided that they would fulfill Zager's desires and do their best to protect the vehicle while it started up and took off.

To that end, they drew their weapons and let out their Pokémon, knowing that Mia's Pokémon were distracted by having to fight the Legendaries. Out came several Koffings and a Weezing. These gasbags would be nothing for her Pokémon, assuming they had already dealt with the Legendary Pokémon.

As for her Pokémon versus Team Rocket's Legendary Beasts, Tyranitar, Starmie, and Chandelure were already dealing with Entei. The Legendary Beast launched a Fire Blast towards Tyranitar, but Chandelure appeared in front of the Rock/Dark-type to absorb the hit, taking only moderate damage from the attack. The three Pokémon retaliated with Stone Edge, Shadow Ball, and Hydro Pump respectively. Entei did its best to endure the attacks, all of which scored direct hits on the Pokémon, and fight back. Any other Fire-type Pokémon would have fallen, but Entei still stood and was ready to strike. The final straw came for the beast when several rings of stones formed around Tyranitar. The Rock/Dark-type soon fired his Stone Edge at the Legendary Beast, focusing in on Entei so that every stone would hit. Entei countered with a Fire Blast, but the human stick figure was unable to shield Entei from all of the stones. Those that were not blocked by the blast of flame went on through unimpeded and scored direct hits on the Legendary Beast. The stones that were blocked by the Fire Blast, however, served a secondary purpose of keeping the blast of fire at bay. Despite having a resistance to Fire-type attacks, Tyranitar did not want to test his endurance against an attack from a Legendary Pokémon, so he was fine with allowing most of his stones from Stone Edge keeping back the flames, and eventually neutralizing the attack. Even with only part of the attack managing to get through, the damage inflicted by Stone Edge was too great for Entei and eventually, the Pokémon fell to the ground.

Not far from that battle, Jolteon and Venusaur were doing fine in dealing with Suicune as well. Not wanting Suicune to get a chance to attack, the duo began the battle by releasing a Thunderbolt and Energy Ball against the Legendary Beast. Suicune tried to counter with a Hydro Pump, but the water merely allowed a channel for the electricity to travel down, and into the Pokémon's body, causing electricity to arc across it as Suicune gave a cry of pain. The beast grunted again as the Energy Ball scored a direct hit on the head, causing it to recoil and stagger backwards, barely able to maintain its footing. The beast then tried to rise so it could attack again, only for its body to seize up as electricity cracked around the beast's body, signifying that it was paralyzed. Venusaur and Jolteon took advantage of Suicune's paralysis by firing off another Energy Ball and Thunderbolt at the stricken Pokémon. The two attacks were sufficient to take down the Legendary and Suicune fell to the floor, unconscious.

Meanwhile, Garchomp had been engaging Raikou in battle. Garchomp was keeping it a close range battle, which Raikou was not accustomed to. Garchomp raked its claws across Raikou's face, inflicting moderate damage, while Raikou retaliated with Hidden Power Ice. White balls of energy formed around the Legendary Beast and lashed out at Garchomp. The Land Shark Pokémon dodged and weaved around the balls of energy and stomped on the ground, but not before making sure that his teammates were far enough away to not be affected by the Earthquake. Rings of energy emerged from the epicenter of the stomp and spread outward towards Raikou who sustained a point blank hit from the attack. The ground shook and Raikou struggled to maintain its footing. Eventually it staggered forward, and into another Dragon Claw. The Land Shark Pokémon raked its claws across the face of the Legendary Beast and knocked it out with that attack.

Once the Legendary Pokémon had been dealt with, they turned their attention to the few remaining Team Rocket Pokémon and grunts. The few grunts and Pokémon that were left had no chance whatsoever against the forces that were arrayed against them. They tried to fight back by taking potshots at Mia and her Pokémon, along with their Pokémon, consisting mostly of Koffings with a Weezing as well, trying to inflict some damage by launching Sludge Bombs at them. The girl and her Pokémon easily avoided the incoming fire and retaliated with a volley of attacks of their own. Starmie dealt with the Poison-type Pokémon by using Psychic to send them crashing into the wall, where they cracked the metal and slid down, unconscious. Meanwhile, Jolteon fried two Rockets with a single Thunderbolt, while Chandelure reduced a third to ashes with Flamethrower. After a few seconds, the battle was over and the Rockets were all defeated. However, the Rockets had done their jobs.

While Mia and her Pokémon had been dealing with the Legendary Beasts, Dr. Zager and Gideon had anxiously been waiting for the helicopter to power up to full. Gideon had wanted to deploy one of the chin guns, but Dr. Zager had resisted, saying, "Wait, we don't need to draw attention to ourselves. As much as we might want to kill Leaf, she's not our primary concern right now; the mission is. We can deal with her once we take off."

Gideon saw his senior's, albeit his subordinate's, wisdom and did not deploy the chin guns just yet. They merely waited for the rotors to get up to speed so they could take off. Eventually, they saw the Legendary Beasts fall to Mia's Pokémon. The grunts that were on the helicopter began to look worried as the Beasts fell one by one, as did Gideon, but Zager did not look to be all that concerned. "So it looks like the Badge Amplifier _does_ seem to limit the power of Legendary Pokémon," he noted absently, as if he were to write it down in a report that he would later give to Giovanni. "I suspected as much."

After a few seconds, the rest of the group saw Mia and her Pokémon deal with the few remaining Rockets on the ground. As they were dealing with them, though, a chime sounded. "That's it!" the pilot alerted the others. "We're at full power and ready for takeoff. Strap in and hold on."

The grunts and scientists did the same, with Zager quickly going over to and manning the weapons station. The twin rotored behemoth then lifted off from the ground and ascended a few meters into the air. Outside the vehicle, Mia braced herself against the dust and winds that were being whipped around the hangar by the helicopter. She soon heard a loud clanking sound and the grinding of gears and motors. Looking ahead, she saw hangar doors open in order to allow the vehicle access to the outside world, but she had other plans for the craft. Suspecting that the Ray Guns, and possibly even the Super Scope, would be of little use against the armored hull of the helicopter, she decided to use the last two Gooey Bombs that she had acquired from the security control center. She tossed them over to the helicopter, where they stuck to the hull, one to the side of the body of the aircraft, and the other to the base of one of the rotors. She was surprised that the second bomb did not explode immediately waited for a moment to see if it would explode, or if it was a dud. It's flashing indicated that it was, indeed, functioning. She continued to watch as the helicopter took off and the bombs continued to flash, waiting patiently for them to explode and hopefully take down the helicopter with them.

Onboard the helicopter, the Rockets did not notice the Gooey Bombs latch onto the hull of their vehicle and were not concerned in the slightest. Once the helicopter was in the air and had flown out of the hangar bay, Zager told the pilot, "Turn us around, face the hangar. This is our chance." This got the attention of Gideon.

"Hold on Zager, what do you want us to do?" Gideon asked, coming into the cockpit.

"We're doing what so many other Rockets should have done a long time ago," Zager answered grimly. "And what you wanted to do earlier while we were still inside the hangar."

He pushed a button and panels retracted from each side of the helicopter. Two wings soon emerged from behind the panels, each being outfitted with rocket pods and air-to-ground missiles. Crosshairs soon appeared on the targeting computer as he told the pilot, "Maneuver us so we're pointing directly at the hangar's opening."

"Sir, what are you doing?" the pilot asked, turning back to the doctor.

"I'm going to destroy the hangar," Zager answered calmly, "and Leaf with it."

"But that will inflict severe damage to the base," the pilot cried. "What if we hit the Badge Amplifier or other important machinery?"

"Leaf's death is more important than a device that limits the power of the Legendary Pokémon it's supposed to control," Zager argued. "Besides, Giovanni has a smaller variant for himself. We've already taken enough losses that the loss of this base will be insignificant if we manage to defeat Leaf and her brother, as well as succeed in our mission. This is our best chance to take her out and I'm not going to put it to waste."

The pilot cast a glance to Gideon, asking, "What do you think, sir? You're the ranking officer here."

"Zager's got a point," Gideon admitted. "If we limit the damage to the hangar, it won't be so bad. And we'll be take out Leaf, and likely destroy a big stumbling block for any future plans in the process. This will be our best chance and we won't get another one." Turning to Zager, he said, "Do it."

"With pleasure," Zager answered almost sarcastically as he went to target Leaf, who just noticed that the helicopter was drawing a bead on her. For her part, though, she was not backing down. Instead, she was leveling her Ray Gun directly at the helicopter. She then pulled the trigger and fired. The first shot struck the hull just above the cockpit, causing a ping to echo throughout the cabin as the shot glanced off the helicopter's armor. The Rockets inside the helicopter laughed at her attempt to shoot it down. Her second shot, however, was aimed at a different point on the hull. She turned to her right, Zager's left, and opened fire once more, just as he pushed the firing stud for the helicopter's weapons complement.

Just as he pushed the stud, an explosion rocked the helicopter. The left rear quarter section of the hull was blown in, shredding two Rockets with shrapnel, and knocking down a few more, Gideon included. The massive rush of wind escaping the cabin vented several more Rockets along with their equipment out of the vehicle. The helicopter listed to its side as another explosion shook the vehicle. The explosion threw Zager out of his seat. As the explosions rocket the helicopter, he sprayed fire into the hangar and the surrounding areas. None of his shots hit true and while Mia dove the hangar floor, as did her Pokémon, the missiles would have failed to hit them anyway. Instead, the missiles and rockets struck the rear of the hangar and blew massive holes into the walls, and even into the corridor and into other rooms before exploding. The damage to the base was far greater than anticipated. The failed attack had even taken out a group of Rockets that were coming to investigate what was going on in the hangar, along with another that was going to assist Giovanni.

Back onboard the helicopter, Zager managed to pull himself back into his seat and get a glimpse of his surroundings outside. The spinning scene outside told him that the helicopter was in an uncontrolled spin. "Get this thing under control!" he cried to the pilot, who was gripping the control stick tightly and trying to yank it back.

"I can't!" the pilot cried over the alarms and the noise from the remaining engine. "We've lost one of our rotors. We won't be able to stay aloft!"

Zager looked out in horror as he saw the helicopter beginning to descend. The alarms got louder as he looked over at the pilot's station and saw that power to the remaining engine was decreasing rapidly. He could only look on in resignation as the helicopter began to fall, its descent quickly accelerating. He knew that it would not be long before they hit the ground; it indeed, it was not. After a few seconds, the nose of the helicopter, which had unfortunately listed downwards, plowed into the ground and crumpled as the vehicle crashed into the ground. Glass shattered and flames erupted as the helicopter crashed and tore itself apart, its once mighty form being reduced to a crumpled piece of metal. Flames erupted from various parts of the metal coffin, which was leaking fuel and other liquids.

Mia watched from the hangar as the helicopter made its fatal descent. She watched with morbid interest as the helicopter crashed into the ground and flames erupted from the cockpit and other areas of the vehicle. It skidded along the ground for a few extra yards, rolling around and tearing itself apart, shredding its rotors and leaving behind pieces of metal and fuel. Eventually, the hulk came to rest not too far away from the base, still leaking liquids. Mia was not satisfied, though, and she looked down at her Ray Gun. It still had one shot left. Knowing that she had a second Ray Gun that had a full charge, she pointed the Ray Gun towards some of the leaking liquids. She then pulled the trigger and sent a single green energy pulse down to the ground. The pulse of energy ignited the fuel. She watched as the fires followed the line of fuel back to the leaking fuel tank. The fires soon entered the fuel tank and the tank exploded in a massive inferno, consuming the entire helicopter. Metal was flung from the epicenter of the explosion as the helicopter was blown apart. The girl watched the explosion with a satisfied smile. Team Rocket's Plan B had just been eliminated. All that was left now was for Giovanni to be dealt with.

Mia stepped back from the edge of the hangar and focused her attention back onto the hangar once more. She examined the remnants of the hangar wanting to make sure that the wild attack launched by the helicopter's insane weapons officer left a path for her to reach Ash.

Going back into the hangar, she gazed out over the scene, making sure that her Pokémon were unhurt. They all came over to her and, when she checked them, they appeared to be fine and to have sustained no injuries from the attack. She also saw that the fainted Legendary Beasts were also okay, not having taken any hits. That was more than could be said for some of the other grunts and officers that had been present inside the hangar. Scanning the ground, she found three Master Balls lying around. Gathering them, she pushed the buttons in the center of the balls and released the fainted Legendaries from Team Rocket's control. Once that was finished, Mia's Pokémon soon formed up around her as she went to exit the hangar out of one of the holes that had been gouged through the walls.

She was about to continue to make her way towards Ash when she found that one of the holes that had been blown into the wall led to some type of machine. It looked to be the size of a refrigerator but had two large tubes sticking out of it and jutting up towards the ceiling. There seemed to be a power feed into the machine. Lights of all were flashing on it at regular intervals. Mia and her Pokémon did not know that they were looking at the Badge Amplifier, a machine that would make any Pokémon, regardless of level or power, even Legendaries, obey a Trainer that had captured or acquired said Pokémon in any way. Only super Legendaries such as Arceus and Mewtwo would have been able to resist the machine's influence. Mia did not care what it did, she only knew that it looked important, which she noted to her Pokémon, saying, "Looks like this machine's important to Team Rocket." Looking at it further, she added, "It also looks like it's taken some damage."

Her Pokémon agreed.

"Then let's finish it off!" she exclaimed gleefully. "Lay waste!"

Her Pokémon gleefully obeyed her command as they unleashed a barrage of attacks at the machine. The attacks tore through the already damaged machine and destroyed it, causing it to explode. The explosion sent out shards of metal into the room, but Mia and the others had safely ducked back out into the hallway. With the machine destroyed, she continued her path towards her brother, using her twin bond to sense how close she was. She could sense that he was not far away. Looking back at her Pokémon, she pointed down the corridor, crying, "This way. Ash isn't far now."

She then ran down the corridor, searching for the shortest route that would take her to Ash, her Pokémon friends hot on her heels.

Back on the roof of Team Rocket Headquarters, Persian stepped onto the battlefield. Giovanni began the battle by yelling to Persian, "Persian, use Fake Out!"

Persian then charged forward at incredible speed and seemed to disappear, reappearing in front of Pikachu. It then slapped its two front paws together, causing Pikachu to flinch for a second. A gust of wind was produced by the clap and buffeted Pikachu, but the mouse kept his footing.

As Pikachu flinched, Giovanni called, "Persian, use Bubblebeam!"

Persian opened its mouth and a stream of bubbles erupted towards Pikachu at point blank range. Since Persian was right next to the Electric-type rodent, it scored a direct hit on Pikachu. The barrage of bubbles caused the mouse to stagger backwards. Once the attack was finished, Pikachu recovered quickly and turned back to face Persian. He glared at his cheeks crackled with electricity. As he was preparing his Thunderbolt, though, Giovanni cried, "Persian, use Protect!"

Persian complied and a green field of energy surrounded it. Pikachu's lightning bolt struck the energy field and it absorbed the entirety of the attack and no damage was inflicted on Persian. Pikachu quickly backed off as Persian fired another Bubblebeam at him. The bubbles scored another direct hit on the electric mouse, but as he was firing the attack, Pikachu's cheeks crackled with electricity once more. The mouse then unleashed a Thunderbolt on Persian. Persian reflexively tried to dive out of the way so it could power a Protect, but it was unable to avoid the lightning bolt. The lightning bolt scored a direct hit on Persian and the cat gave a cry as electricity arced across its body. Despite the power of the Thunderbolt, though, Persian was not beaten yet.

Persian opened its mouth in preparation of launching another attack. This time, it was a Hyper Beam. A red and white ball of energy formed in front of the cat's mouth. Pikachu would not be caught off guard, though. As soon as the ball had formed, Pikachu used his tail to spring straight into the air. Persian then unleashed the massive Hyper Beam upon Pikachu. Persian's Hyper Beam, however, sailed underneath the Electric-type rodent, leaving him unharmed. Pikachu then came straight down on Persian, long before it recharged and could prepare a Protect shield. Pikachu's tail was suddenly covered in metal as he smashed it down upon Persian's head. The attack cause Persian to recoil and issue a grunt of pain, but the Pokémon was still able to fight. It then used Slash and tried to rake Pikachu's face with its claws. The mouse was too quick, though, and the cat struck nothing but air. Pikachu then decided that it was time to end this fight. Before Persian could erect a Protect barrier, the mouse powered another Thunderbolt attack. After a single second, a single bolt of lightning erupted from Pikachu. It instantly crossed the distance between the mouse and the cat, and scored a direct hit on Persian. Persian gave another cry as it took the direct hit from Pikachu's Thunderbolt. After a few seconds, Persian then fell to the ground. It tried to rise and continue to fight but found itself unable to do so and then resigned itself to the fact that it was beaten. Swirls then appeared in its eyes, signifying its defeat.

"Persian is unable to battle," the officials declared. "Pikachu is the winner. Which means that Ash Ketchum has won the match." They held their flag and pointed it towards Ash, indicating that she was the victor. He looked across at Giovanni and noticed that he was not too dejected over his loss, nor was he concerned about the fact that his escape helicopter was nothing more than a large metal paperweight. What did Giovanni know that he did not?

"Surrender now, Giovanni," he called across the helipad. "It's over. There's nowhere left for you to go. Now tell me, where is Mia?"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

Giovanni looked back at the disabled helicopter and saw that there were no conveniently placed jetpacks or emergency escape skiffs anywhere on the pad. Still, he did not look too concerned. He heard Ash ask his question once more. "Find her, yourself," he retorted harshly to the boy, a grin creasing his face. This response surprised Ash, and also gave him a bad feeling.

"I won the battle fair and square," Ash stated plainly. "You even gained an advantage being able to use two Pokémon on the battlefield, as well as the use of the Wonder Launcher, the former of which was stated to be strictly against the rules of this battle, with the latter never having previously been agreed to."

"It doesn't matter," he retorted. "You still have to capture me and I won't make it that easy." He quickly reached into his suit jacket's pocket.

"Stop!" Ash called over to him. He and his Pokémon rushed to the Rocket Boss as he drew his weapon, a Ray Gun of the same make and model as the ones used by the other members of Team Rocket.

He arrived at the Rocket Boss as Giovanni was taking aim at him. He would not be denied his prize. Before he could draw an accurate bead on him, Ash swerved to the side, making it harder for Giovanni to target him. Seeing that he had no choice, he rushed directly towards the Rocket Boss before he could target him again. When he reached him, he grabbed the gun and attempted to wrench it from Giovanni's grasp. Giovanni, though, was not making it easy, for he quickly pulled back, drawing in Ash. He then thrust his hand forward and shoved Ash backwards. The boy staggered a few steps back before falling to the ground. Giovanni approached, grinning darkly. "I said I wasn't gonna make it easy," he gloated as he neared the boy, leveling his gun at the boy's head.

As he was about to shoot Ash, though, a pop sounded and a green bolt of energy flashed by Ash's head, striking Giovanni's Ray Gun squarely in the barrel. Giovanni gave a cry of surprise as the now shattered pieces of the gun flew out of his hand. As he gritted his teeth in pain and massaged his hand, he looked behind Ash and saw Leaf standing behind him, a Ray Gun pointed squarely at his face.

Giovanni considered drawing one of his three remaining Poké Balls, which contained the Lake Guardians, but seeing the girl with the gun, he decided against doing something obviously suicidal. Ash looked behind and saw Mia standing a dozen feet away, flanked by her Pokémon. His eyes lit up with delight as he saw that she was okay. "It's over Giovanni," she declared forcefully, the hold of on her gun not wavering until she saw Ash looking directly at her. It was something that Giovanni picked up on quickly. The Rocket Boss backed away from her a little, holding his hands up, but a dark grin began to cross his face.

"Do you have it in you, girl?" he asked. "Can you kill me in cold blood? Can you murder me in front of your own brother?"

"You're a monster," Mia growled. "You're a thief, a kidnapper, and a known murderer. You run an organization of thieves, kidnappers, and murderers. Too many people and Pokémon have died at the hands of Team Rocket. Many more are suffering because of you. No more! It ends now!" she screamed. "Besides, you attempted to kill us and our friends and family earlier today. Killing you would not be murder. It would be self defense."

"Then do it," he challenged. "Kill me, just as I and my subordinates are said to have done to so many others. But know that regardless of what you just said, I am defenseless. If you kill me now, it _would_ be murder."

Mia gave a low growl. Giovanni was wrong. He was too dangerous to keep alive. He had enough money to either bribe his way out of jail, assuming he ever got to it, or control and reestablish Team Rocket from inside prison. He could also use his connections and resources to lash out at her, her family, and Ash's friends. She quickly decided that the only way to limit the suffering he would cause was to kill him and went to pull the trigger. It was halfway pulled when she heard Ash's voice behind her. "Wait!" he called.

His call hit her like an electric jolt and she almost jumped at the sound of his voice, quickly releasing her grip on the trigger. Looking at him, she saw him rushing towards her, with Pikachu perched on his shoulder and Charizard not far behind. All the while, Giovanni did not make a single move. Even if he could get the jump on Leaf, that boy's Pikachu that Jessie, James, and Meowth had been chasing for three years would almost certainly shock him, and then the Leaf would retaliate and most certainly kill him, and that was only if Pikachu and Charizard did not kill him themselves. He could tell by the look on the Charizard's face that he could not believe that Ash would not let Mia kill him and was thinking about doing it, himself, if neither of the humans decided to do so. As for Mia, she smiled back at her brother for a second, but soon she turned back to face Giovanni and took aim at him once more, answering sternly, "No Ash. One way or another, it ends now. Giovanni is too dangerous to keep alive."

"He's unarmed and he either doesn't have any Pokémon with him, or they've all fainted. We don't have to kill him now. He's beaten," Ash insisted.

"No," Mia cried, shaking her head. "Even if he goes to jail, he'll still be able to lash out against our family and the families of other Team Rocket enemies. He has the resources and the connections to do it. I won't let that happen. His threat must end now!"

She focused on Giovanni once more and was about to pull the trigger when Ash rushed her and grabbed the gun's barrel, pushing it away from Giovanni, causing the resulting blast to sail wide of him. "Give me the gun Mia," he told her as kindly as possible. "We can subdue him without killing him. His threat will be neutralized once he goes to jail."

"No!" she roared angrily. "You don't get it, Ash! He's a monster with resources and friends. The Team Rocket Executives have yet to be dealt with. If he's captured, they'll almost certainly try to free him!"

"Then we'll stop them, too," Ash replied, giving a kind and hopeful smile.

His response caused Mia to crack a sarcastic smile. "At what cost?" she retorted. "And what if he escapes the old fashioned way? What if he bribes a guard to get him out or worse, a judge into giving him a lenient sentence, or he gets paroled and gets out of jail in a year or two anyway? Or what if he bribes a jury into finding him not guilty? What then?"

The questions took Ash aback. He had not thought about those scenarios. He gave a sigh as he remained silent, but his expression was still stern and he still vowed that he would not let Mia simply murder Giovanni.

Giovanni watched the exchange, glancing over at the two League officials, who were not making any moves of their own at all, yet. They glanced over at him but gave no indication of whether or not they were going to arrest him or wait to see the outcome of the discussion between Mia and Ash.

He mulled over his options as he fingered the three Poké Balls in his jacket pocket. He also looked back at the disabled wreck of a helicopter. What none of his subordinates had known was that he had made a special Badge Amplifier just for him so that he could control his own personal force of Legendary Pokémon. This Badge Amplifier also did not limit the powers of the Legendaries that he controlled, either, giving the Pokémon additional energy to offset the energy that was suppressed by the controlling effects of the Amplifier. He only hoped that it had not been damaged when that Pikachu had fried the helicopter. He took out his Pokédex and scanned the Poké Balls. The readings soon came back and the Pokédex detected an unknown type of energy surrounding the Pokémon. The scans indicated that the energy bound the Pokémon to their master, who just happened to be Giovanni, for he had given his own Poké Balls to his subordinates when he had ordered them to capture the various Legendary Pokémon.

Wasting no time, he gripped the Poké Balls was about to open them when both Ash and Mia turned to face him. Seeing him go for three new Pokémon ended the argument and she pointed the Ray Gun at him once more. "Don't," she warned, her stern look letting him know what would happen if he tried to release the Pokémon. "Shrink the balls and place them on the ground with your left hand keeping your right hand held up in the air," she instructed.

Giovanni did as he was told and one by one, he took each of the new Poké Balls and pressed their buttons, shrinking them down to the size of balls that were little larger than ping-pong balls. He then placed them on the ground in front of him.

"Now, kick them away," she instructed.

As she ordered Giovanni to kick away his Pokémon, Ash noticed that the Pokémon League officials were not making any move in support of them. In fact, they were looking a little worried, something that he and his Pokémon seemed to pick up on, as did Mia's. Mia, however, was too focused on Giovanni at the moment to concern herself with the Pokémon League officials. Besides, she knew that her Pokémon and Ash would alert her if they tried anything. Ash was a little more concerned, remembering that they had helped Giovanni in a few of their rulings during their battle.

"Next, recall Persian," she commanded.

"I don't have Persian's Poké Ball with me," he answered with a shrug.

She glanced back at Starmie and Chandelure, whose eyes and core began to glow. After a second, she turned back to the Team Rocket Boss and said, "Persian's Poké Ball is in your right pants pocket. Reach in with your left hand while keeping your right hand in the air and pull it out slowly. You will then return Persian to its Poké Ball."

Giovanni gritted his teeth. She was taking every precaution. He scanned the helipad and found that the Poké Balls had been kicked too far away for him to be able to reach them without getting shot to pieces by his enemies. He glanced suspiciously at the "Pokémon League" officials, seemingly asking what he should do. They made no move, one way or the other. He was alone. Seeing little choice, he did as he was instructed. Reaching across his body with his left hand, he awkwardly reached into his pocket and pulled out a Poké Ball. He slowly pulled it out and contemplated using it to stun Mia. Seeing her Pokémon come to back her up, though, he immediately nixed that idea. There were too many enemy Pokémon for him to deal with and he did not know if the Lake Guardians would be able to beat Tyranitar, given the massive type advantage he possessed over them. Sighing, he called, "Persian return!"

He then recalled Persian into its Poké Ball and then shrunk the ball down, placing it in his left pocket. "Now, kneel down on the ground, place your hands on your head and interlock your fingers," Mia directed.

The Rocket Boss gave a growl. She was not taking any chances. Seeing little choice, he did as was instructed. However, she did not have any rope with which to tie him, so she looked over to the Pokémon League officials and asked, "Do you have any rope or handcuffs with which to bind his hands?"

The League officials gave no answer as they continued to watch the proceedings. This caused Mia to become troubled.

"I do!" Ash volunteered. He unslung his backpack and placed it on the ground. Fishing into it, he soon took out a piece of thin brown rope. He went over and gave it to Mia. This exchange greatly troubled both Giovanni as well as the League officials.

"Thanks Ash," Mia said with a smile. "Maybe you're right. Maybe no one else has to die today."

She was about to go over to bind Giovanni's hands when a warning flashed in her mind. Looking behind her, she saw a wave of crimson rings coming her way. Inside the rings it was pitch black. Both Ash and Mia dove out of the way of the Night Shade blast. The attack struck the helipad and parts of it erupted in an unnatural black flame. Giovanni quickly backed away, making sure that none of the flames managed to reach him. The attack took Ash by surprise and he gasped, yelling, "What was that?"

Just then, the familiar voice of Jessie answered his question, proclaiming, "What was that? A twerpish question indeed!"

Soon, James's voice broke in, saying, "The answer to come as we feel the need!"

Ash only groaned as they began their motto:

Jessie: Bringing the blinding white light of evil into the future!

James: Thrusting the hammer of justice down onto the black darkness of the universe!

Meowth: Carving our names in the Rock of Eternity!

Jessie: The fiery destroyer, Jessie!

James: And with thunderous emotion, I am James!

Meowth: Wisest of the Wise, Meowth!

All: And now gather, under the name of Team Rocket!

As Team Rocket performed their motto, they posed with each line. Ash only groaned throughout the motto, but Mia was a lot more proactive in dealing with the new threats. As soon as they had begun the motto, she commanded, "Everyone, attack Team Rocket and their Pokémon!"

Her Pokémon did not need to be told twice and they launched their strongest ranged attacks against Team Rocket. With no direction from Team Rocket, since they were still finishing their motto, Wobbuffet quickly stepped out in front of the team and intercepted the attacks using Mirror Coat, figuring that since Mia used ranged attacks, and that most ranged attacks were special attacks, that it would be the safer option. It was not a bad call, all things considered, since the only really powerful ranged physical attack that it really had to worry about was Stone Edge.

All of the special attacks from Mia's Pokémon, Thunderbolt, Razor Leaf, Flamethrower, and Psychic, were reflected back at them. They each braced themselves for the counterblow and took the attacks as best they could, knowing that they could survive them. Jolteon merely absorbed the electricity from its own Thunderbolt and was fully replenished and ready to fight. Venusaur took minimal damage from its own attack since it was both a Grass and Poison-type Pokémon. In addition, both Flamethrower and Psychic did minimal damage to Chandelure and Starmie since they were part Fire and part Psychic-type respectively. One problem that Wobbuffet had, though, was the fact that Mirror Coat only protected against Special Attacks, and even then, Wobbuffet still took some damage. Normal physical attacks were able to break through it without a problem, which Tyranitar and Garchomp quickly demonstrated as Tyranitar unleashed a Stone Edge barrage on the blob-like Pokémon while Garchomp charged Wobbuffet, its claws glowing. The Psychic-type blob-like Pokémon attempted to switch to Counter to defend against the two incoming physical attacks, but was too slow and the Stone Edge attack got through and scored a direct hit, inflicting significant damage to the Team Rocket Pokémon, while Garchomp lashed out at it with Dragon Claw. It raked its claws across Wobbuffet's face, and felled the Pokémon, who had already been forced to endure all of the special attacks, along with Tyranitar's undefended Stone Edge. With Wobbuffet out of the way, the rest of Mia's Pokémon were free to use all of their attacks on the rest of Team Rocket's Pokémon without any repercussions. Despite the neutralization of Wobbuffet, though, they knew that it would be a tough battle, for they Pokémon were already tired from having fought at the hotel, as well as against the Rocket Brothers, Butch, Cassidy, and also the Legendaries in the security control center and the hangar.

As soon as Team Rocket had finished their motto, Ash complained, "Not you two again!"

"You didn't think we'd be taken down so easily, did you twerp?" Jessie asked condescendingly.

"We've been shocked so many times by that Pikachu that we've actually grown a type of resistance to it," James added. "I must say that I liked not having been shocked for such a long time, but we knew that it would come to an end eventually."

"Enough talk," Meowth bellowed. "We've gotta take down the twerps and their Pokémon and give da boss time ta make his move."

"Right," came both Team Rocket agents.

They then pointed their fingers towards Ash and Mia's Pokémon, Jessie commanding, "Wobbuffet, use Mirror Coat, Yanmega use Silver Wind, Seviper use Poison Tail, Swoobat use Air Slash! All of you, target the twerpette and her Pokémon!"

James then cried, "Carnivine, use Bullet Seed, Mr. Mime use Psychic, Cofagrigus use Shadow Ball! Target the twerpette's Pokémon!"

Only after they gave their commands did they realize that Mia had already taken down Wobbuffet. As such, it could not cover their Pokémon as they attacked Mia's team. This meant that it was about to become a clash of powers, a clash that they would almost certainly lose. That did not stop their remaining Pokémon from launching a barrage of attacks on Mia's Pokémon, as well as Mia, herself, with the young teen having to dodge a barrage of Bullet Seed. Sure enough, the streams of attacks clashed with each other and an explosion was generated once the powers collided. The smoke obscured both teams, but Chandelure and Starmie were able to link their minds with all of Mia's Pokémon, save Tyranitar, who was still able to make out the locations of Team Rocket's Pokémon through the smoke anyway. They launched a counterattack, each Pokémon targeting one of Team Rocket's Pokémon that they had a type advantage against.

Yanmega was the first to fall, taking a direct hit from Tyranitar's Stone Edge barrage. Next, Jolteon unleashed a vicious Thunderbolt towards Mr. Mime. Mr. Mime, however, countered with a Light Screen. The Light Screen rose and blocked the special attacks launched by Mia's Pokémon. "Mr. Mime, raise a Reflect as well!" James commanded.

The Pokémon complied and a Reflect barrier was also raised to support the Light Screen. The attacks of Mia's Pokémon struck the Reflect and Light Screen barriers and were blocked, with only half of the energy managing to get through. "Go!" Team Rocket cried. "Attack the twerpette with everything you've got!"

Again, another wave of attacks came towards Mia's Pokémon. They countered again with their own moves and created another explosion, canceling out the attacks. Still, she could see that her Pokémon were breathing heavily. "Hey Ash, a little help here!" she called loudly.

Her cry got Ash's attention as he glanced back at her and saw that all of the previous battles were taking their toll on her Pokémon. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt, Charizard use Fire Blast! Everyone else, come on out!"

He tossed his remaining Poké Balls into the air and out came the rest of his team. "Attack Team Rocket's Pokémon!" he cried.

Pikachu and Charizard were the first to launch their attacks, the Fire Blast targeting Carnivine and Thunderbolt zeroing in on Swoobat. The Light Screen absorbed half of the damage that would have been inflicted by the attacks and the attacks only managed to get through at half power. Still, it was enough to get the two Pokémon to recoil from each hit, electricity arcing across Swoobat's body. However, they were not strong enough to take down Team Rocket's Pokémon with single hits. Soon, the rest of Ash's Pokémon joined in the fighting and added their power to the mix. Blastoise fired an Ice Beam towards Carnivine, the more dangerous of the Team Rocket Pokémon that were weak to Ice Beam, scoring a direct hit on the Pokémon. Still, the Light Screen halved the power of the attack and it was not strong enough to take down Carnivine, which surprised both Ash as well as Blastoise. Venusaur and Serperior targeted Cofagrigus and launched two Energy Balls at the Ghost-type Pokémon. Both attacks got through the shield but they only did so at half power and, as such, were not enough to take out the Pokémon. Donphan and Snorlax then charged Seviper with Donphan stomping on the ground using Earthquake. The helipad shook again and cracks appeared in the metal as a line of cracks made its way towards Seviper. Seviper took a direct hit, albeit at only half the original power of the attack. The snake-like Pokémon countered by launching a Poison Tail Donphan's way, but it was intercepted by Snorlax, who took the attack to the body. The Poison Tail did not inflict much damage and Snorlax quickly countered with a Mega Kick, sending the Pokémon flying into Carnivine, knocking it over. Both Pokémon quickly rose, though, continuing to fight, which surprised both Snorlax and Donphan greatly. Ash also wondered what was going on, since Team Rocket's Pokémon had never shown themselves to be this resilient before, even with the added edge of Light Screen and Reflect.

Not too far away from the battle, Giovanni would have handed over the reigns of Team Rocket to the former Blunder Brigade as he saw them come onto the scene and divert the attention of the teens away from him. He knew that there was little time, since he did not expect their Pokémon to last very long against the impending assault. _Don't be too concerned_, a voice that he did not recognize echoed throughout his head. _Wait for the opportune moment to strike. You'll only get one shot and despite the greater endurance of Team Rocket's Pokémon I've managed to grant unto them, they will eventually fall to Ash and Mia's Pokémon and even with their increased strength, the Lake Guardians could be in trouble if they're forced to face down twelve well-trained and powerful Pokémon_.

Giovanni was not too concerned. He knew that he would have to choose the right moment with which to attack. And that moment would soon come. He went over to each of the seemingly discarded Poké Balls and picked them up. He pushed the buttons on each of them and the Poké Balls grew to their normal size. He soon saw his chance as Mia's Pokémon went to join Ash's in his fight against Team Rocket. His eyes flashed as he tossed the Poké Balls into the air and called, "Lake Trio, come on out!"

The Poké Balls opened and Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit emerged from them and appeared on the scene. The Pokémon then formed up and hovered around the Team Rocket Boss awaiting their orders. Giovanni grinned as they made no moves against him and simply floated by his side, Uxie being careful to not look its new master in the eyes for off chance of wiping his mind. Giovanni continued to watch Ash and Mia as they battled with Jessie, James, and Meowth, waiting to attack at the right moment. He scanned the battle and saw that Seviper had now fallen and that Swoobat was paralyzed. Mr. Mime continued to raise Light Screens and Reflect barriers to increase the defense of the party, but that would soon come to an end. Tyranitar ran towards it and opened his mouth. He then bit down on Mr. Mime's head using Crunch and took down the Psychic-type Pokémon. The twerps', as Jessie, James, and Meowth called them, Pokémon were distracted. Now was as good a time as any to join the battle. "Go!" Giovanni cried to the Lake Guardians.

Azelf floated to the front and its eyes began to glow. An instant later, Pikachu, Charizard, Ash's Venusaur, Mia's Venusaur, and Garchomp were suddenly sent flying through the air. Charizard used his wings to arrest his momentum. After coming to a stop, he was about to release a Blast Burn on it when Tyranitar, recognizing that it was Azelf that he was about to face, stood in his way, holding his arms out, telling Charizard that he would handle the Lake Guardian, knowing of the special ability of the Psychic-type Pokémon. Azelf then attempted to attack Tyranitar by using Psychic, but the blue energy field that surrounded the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon did not inflict any damage, or impede his movement. Tyranitar then opened his mouth and fired a beam of dark purple circles at Azelf. The Dark Pulse scored a direct hit on Azelf and sent it flying backwards. The Pokémon issued a cry of pain and focused its power and special ability of sapping the will of whoever harmed it on Tyranitar. However, due to the fact that Dark-type Pokémon were immune to Psychic-type attacks, and the ability was that of a Psychic-type Pokémon, Tyranitar was unaffected, just as he expected. Despite suffering a direct hit from a super effective attack, though, Azelf only took moderate damage and was still able to fight. However, the battle would be brought to an abrupt halt when six new Pokémon joined the fray, unleashing a barrage of attacks close to Ash and Mia's Pokémon. The teens turned and saw six new Pokémon: Blaziken, Sceptile, Swampert, a Blissey, a Salamence, and Rhyperior interposing themselves between Giovanni and the two teens and their Pokémon.

"Ash and Mia Ketchum, you must stand down at once. There is no need for this battle to escalate," the female official said in a seemingly plain tone, but there was something in her tone that neither Ash, nor Mia, liked and the two were put on edge.

"We shall deal with Giovanni," the male official told her. "You should go back to the village."

"What?" Ash blurted, incredulous at what he was hearing. Mia merely seethed, recognizing the voices. "Why? Giovanni has Legendary Pokémon! Powerful ones at that. You'll need backup if you want to beat them! Besides, Team Rocket may have other Legendary Pokémon!"

"They did," Mia answered. "My team also fought Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, as well as a Heatran and Shaymin on my way to you. We beat them, though."

"Because the League demands it," the two officials snapped while Ash and Mia were still conversing with each other, all too suddenly for the teens' liking.

Ash was starting to get even more suspicious as Giovanni stood close to the Lake Guardians, grinning. "Go!" he cried. "Attack again!" He was rejoining the battle in earnest.

"He's continuing the battle and has control of the Lake Guardians," he cried in warning. "We have to stop him. You know what he could do with control over _those_ Pokémon."

"You will do no such thing," the officials stated as six more Poké Ball were drawn and six new Pokémon appeared in front her and her team, interposing themselves between Mia and Giovanni. These Pokémon consisted of the Johto starters, Typhlosion, Meganium, and Feraligatr; as well as an Espeon and an Umbreon, two feline-like Pokémon, Espeon having gray fur, a forked tail and a red jewel on its forehead, and Umbreon having black fur with yellow markings, and a Latios, essentially a blue and white version of Latias. Mia glared at them as she told Ash, "It's no good. They're a part of Team Rocket." She then stepped forward gave a sarcastic grin. "It's been a while, Alex and Lara, if I remember correctly."

"You do," the two officials grunted. "Now stand down, both of you, or face the consequences," they bellowed once more. They soon drew Ray Guns identical to the ones she saw Team Rocket use in both the attack on the hotel and in their defense of the base. Ash's eyes went wide with shock, while Mia merely grimaced. How had they gotten these weapons? Was the Pokémon League in league with Team Rocket? Turning to Mia, they declared, "Mia Ketchum, you will now surrender yourself to the custody of Pokémon League to stand trial for crimes against the League."

Her eyes widened with shock. "Trial? On what charges? And how do you have the right to press charges in the name of the Pokémon League?"

"Burglary, illegal possession of a firearm, theft, invasion of private property, assault with a deadly weapon, assault with Pokémon, and most importantly, numerous counts of murder, plus a variety of other charges that are too numerous to go into right now," they answered, ignoring Mia's question. "Surrender now, Mia."

"Don't make this harder on yourselves than it has to be," came the mocking voice of Giovanni from behind. His tone was full of malice and sadism. She saw that he had drawn a Ray Gun and was pointing it at her. The teens were shocked and angered at the turn of events.

"So, you _are_ working with Team Rocket," Ash accused. "I should have known from the moment you gave Giovanni all of those allowances in the battle," he seethed.

"They _are_ Team Rocket!" Mia roared almost in disbelief at how he had not seen it, despite her telling him mere moments before. "They were two of the older kids that were kidnapped just after I was. They elected to stay behind."

"We were never kidnapped," the two officials stated mockingly. "We ran away from home to join Team Rocket. Of course, our parents searched for us, but we fixed that problem fairly quickly. As for this battle, we must admit that you and your Pokémon were far stronger than we initially believed," the female official told the teenage boy. "But now, it ends. Charles Goodshow has been too weak for too long. It's time for things to change. It's time for the Pokémon League to take back what is theirs. We are going to be the agents of change. Members of the International Pokémon League Committee have already signed off on backing us up. It's a small group, but they do exist, and they _do_ have the power to have you arrested, or executed."

"Members of the Pokémon League?" Mia blurted in shock.

"Yes," the two officials said, nodding. "With a little bit of prodding," they added, grinning. "Now surrender now or face arrest and likely execution."

"Why?" she seethed, not willing to surrender. She took off her backpack and prepared to open it but a blue field of psychic energy surrounded her, stopping her movements. She remained in her frozen position as Latios's eyes glowed, indicating that he was using Psychic on her. She struggled against Latios's strength, attempting to move, but was only able to move her arms a few inches. She could move her fingers and wiggle her toes but that was of little use against the power of Latios. As she tried to move further, her nerves flared and her entire body erupted in pain. She cried out as she fell to the ground, breathing heavily, even though those breaths merely caused her more pain.

"Don't struggle Mia," the female official pleaded mockingly. "It will only make things harder and more painful for you."

"Stop it!" Ash cried trying to run over to Mia, only to be frozen by Latias's Psychic. "She's done nothing wrong!"

"She murdered our friend!" Lara snapped.

"Tristan betrayed us and sold us out to Team Rocket!" Mia retorted harshly. "He tried to kill me and several other kids. By killing him, I saved the lives of everyone else!"

Charizard took this opportunity to launch a Fire Blast on Latios. The blast of fire scored a direct hit, causing the Pokémon to recoil in shock and pain despite the type disadvantage. Still, Latios was not without support and soon, two waves of water washed over Charizard, forcing him back several meters and knocking him to the ground. As soon as the water receded, a waterlogged Charizard was breathing heavily, but slowly rose, showing that he was still able to fight. He glared at the Swampert and Feraligatr that had attacked them singling them out for the upcoming battle. Ash's Venusaur soon came to support Charizard, along with Mia's Venusaur and Serperior. The three Grass-type Pokémon launched Energy Balls at the two Water-types, causing them to cry out in pain with the hits, each one forcing them back a few feet, with Swampert barely able to stand. The lines were drawn once again. However, Giovanni soon joined the battle, standing with the Pokémon League officials and their Pokémon, the Lake Guardians floating out in front of the group.

"Stop this, Ash Ketchum. You don't have to go down with your sister," the officials told him forcefully. "If you both surrender now, neither of you will have to go down at all."

"Why should I? You've betrayed the Pokémon League," he accused, pointing at them.

The officials merely laughed. "Betrayed the League? The International Pokémon League Committee gave us these orders in the first place, with a little bit of suggestion from some of its members," the officials added conspiratorially. "We're not the traitors here. You are!"

That statement took Ash aback. He fought back tears as every single dream he had was being washed away by the seeming betrayal of the Pokémon League. He looked over to his fallen sister, who was struggling to rise.

"That's a lie," Mia accused weakly. "Some members may be willing to sell out to Team Rocket because of the truth, but others won't turn their backs on the League's ideals."

"Why are you working with Team Rocket?" Ash asked in desperation. "They go against everything the League supposedly stands for! Even if you once were part of Team Rocket, why do you still fight for them now? The League has been good for human/Pokémon relations. Why ruin it?"

"Because we have no choice," came the response. "Times are changing and we must adapt or the League will be destroyed. Don't you see? We're trying to _save_ the League!"

"What do you mean, destroyed?" the teens asked.

"It's a long and complicated story," the male official began. "Let's just say that everything you think you know about Pokémon and their origins is either incomplete, or outright wrong."

Mia looked at the ground, downcast. "So my theory is correct, then." This greatly surprised the officials.

"What theory," Ash and the officials asked.

"The theory that Pokémon are likely no more than six or seven hundred years old at the oldest and are, in fact, creations of humanity."

"You think that preposterous theory is true?" Ash blurted.

"It's not a theory, it's a fact," the Lara corrected. "Pokémon, or rather, Earth-based Pokémon, even those said to be from outer space like those that evolve with the Moon Stone and the Staryu line, were originally developed by the old Eastern Coalition at the end of World War Three using the DNA of Mew, a Pokémon that, itself, naturally originates from Earth, being an evolution of a cat, and combining it with 'normal' animals."

"But what does that have to do with members of the Pokémon League siding with Team Rocket now?" Ash asked.

"There's a lot of history you don't know. Suffice to say, the Federation has laws against the use of bioweapons, micro and macroscopic, of which Pokémon are. To make matters even worse, Pokémon are sentient beings, albeit young sentient beings, and they know the difference between right and wrong and can act according to their consciences. As such, sentients' rights laws prohibited their use as slaves or involuntary weapons. However, they were designed to fight, and they loved to do so. In order to allow them an outlet for their aggression, humans created the Pokémon League so that Pokémon could be taught how to reach their full potential _and_ control their normal impulses. In addition, the Pokémon did not resist since it would allow them to bond with humans and also fight. It was quickly realized that this could teach humans and Pokémon how to live with one another and, as such, United Earth, allowed the Pokémon Leagues, and the Pokémon World to coexist with them. Even the Galactic Federation had no issues with the agreement, though at the time, Earth was not all that important a member of the Federation and it did not keep a close eye on us. However, as you know, the rules of Pokémon battles and the methods of control were different back then and have since changed greatly with the advent of new technology. Ever since the destruction of Daiban and the Galactic Federation Civil War, the seat of power of the Federation is now on Earth. That means that the Federation and United Earth will keep a closer eye on the Pokémon Leagues.

"These issues are why we fear the Federation and Earth. They _are_ taking a closer look at us and will likely now think that we are enslaving Pokémon. It is also a good opportunity for the Federation to take over the Pokémon World, in order to prevent any potential abuses by various Trainers. We cannot allow the Federation to take over the League, or the Pokémon World. Unfortunately, both United Earth and the Galactic Federation are exceedingly powerful, far more so than the Pokémon World. This is compounded by the fact that Unova has rejoined United Earth and that there is the very real possibility that if we fight the Federation and Earth, that the Pokémon may rebel against us as well. In addition, the powerful Legendary Pokémon we would need in order to resist a hostile take over are not easily controlled. However, Team Rocket has invented, a machine that would allow us to control such Pokémon. That is why it was all too easy to convince some of the members that we need them. We need that machine, as well as their knowledge on how to build it. Without it, we are doomed."

"Does that machine look somewhat like a refrigerator that has two tubes sticking out of it?" Mia asked with a grin.

"Yes, why?" the officials asked.

"Oh, it was destroyed," she answered casually, holding up her arms, shrugging. "A Team Rocket helicopter that was going on some important mission thought that killing me was more important, so they went to destroy the hangar, with me inside," she explained all too cheerfully for the officials and Giovanni. "But some bombs on the side of the helicopter exploded and took it down, also causing it to spray the fire all over the place. The machine was damaged in the process. Since it looked important, and was already damaged, I decided to do the world a favor and destroy it." Turning to Giovanni, she cried exuberantly, "Looks like Team Rocket's plans just got shot to that unmentionable place!"

"No!" Giovanni cried, shock, rage, and despair etched onto his face. The officials' faces mirrored Giovanni's. Suddenly, he became very worried "You've ruined everything!"

"You have doomed us, and the entire Pokémon World!" the League officials accused, pointing towards Mia. "Team Rocket and its plans to control all Trainer owned Pokémon were the only chance we had! We needed unity! And without the Badge Amplifier, no one will be able to control the Legendaries. They'll run wild and destroy what's left of this base!"

"Has the League lost its mind?" Ash cried. "These actions will only cause Earth and the Federation to crack down that much harder on the Pokémon League, and the Pokémon World while we're at it. The Federation doesn't belong to Elric or Cyrus anymore. They're dead. The Federation would not have had a problem with the Pokémon League, unless…"

"Now you understand," the Alex declared. "The Federation will have issues with how the Pokémon League is currently handling itself. We have found better ways to contain Pokémon and control them."

"And the Federation will have problems with that."

The officials nodded. "It will investigate the League and find a reason to take over not only the League, but the entire Pokémon World! They will say that we are in violations of the Pokémon's rights as sentient beings and will disband the League. It will be the death of our culture!"

"A culture of slavery?" Ash challenged. "Ever since I can remember, my dream was to become the world's greatest Pokémon Master. Now I've at least partially achieved that dream. In addition, I always used to think that the Pokémon League stood for justice and virtue and that it was evidence that both humans and Pokémon could live together in peace, prosperity, and equality."

"It is," Lara interjected.

"But from the way you talk, it's almost as if you're resigning Pokémon to slavery just so you can preserve the Pokémon League, as well as the Pokémon World, as _you_ know it," Ash continued. "Mia talked with me about this earlier. She warned me that the way Pokémon were viewed was that they were basically little more than pets at best, rather than true friends and partners. I didn't want to believe it because I didn't view my Pokémon that way at all, but looking back, she's right, and it was staring me right in the face. This is nothing but a world of slavery and injustice, especially now, since you've sided with Team Rocket! And what's worse is that no one will see the larger part of the Pokémon World and Pokémon League that did _not_ side with Team Rocket throughout this ordeal."

"The Pokémon World wasn't like that!" Alex countered. The teens could not help but notice that he was using the past tense in the statement.

"But it is now," Mia retorted harshly. "But it won't be that way for long," she said more evenly, and slyly. She then pulled out a small recorder from her backpack. She pushed a single button and the entire conversation played back for everyone to hear. "It looks like United Earth and the Federation will have everything they need to make a decision. And if they decide to take over, you will have no one to blame but yourselves. Heck, the civilians probably won't have a problem reintegrating with the rest of the world, assuming they want us, that is. The only way the Pokémon World will save itself and be able to remain a separate entity now is to destroy Team Rocket and reform the League, or rather, show the rest of the world that the League isn't based on a culture of slavery. And that means getting rid of the garbage, i.e. you. Don't worry, though, that won't be too difficult since I'll also give a copy of everything you just said to Charles Goodshow and Cynthia."

The officials seethed and tried to think of what to do. Mia was right. Everything they were doing would do nothing but cause the Federation to decide that the best option was to take over the entire Pokémon World. And the worst thing was that the civilians likely would not care after hearing what the Pokémon League, or rather, some of its members, who were secret members of Team Rocket, were doing. In their efforts to save the Pokémon World, they would, instead, cause its demise.

"Why are you engaging in this talk?" Giovanni bellowed to the officials. "They'll never understand!"

The League officials looked over at him and sighed. "But it's already over, sir!" the officials cried. "The attack on Goldenrod City's Radio Tower was finished before it even took off and the Badge Amplifier is gone. Besides, we had to try to talk to them."

"It's not over yet," Giovanni refuted. "The Lake Guardians are still listening to me. I still have control over them. You also likely still have control of Latios and Latias, too."

"Then we can still make a fight of it," the officials realized. Turning back to Ash and Mia, they gave their ultimatum, "Ash, Mia, you have one last chance to avoid going to jail, or, more likely, dying. Surrender to the will of the Pokémon League now and we will let you off with a warning. Team Rocket has its faults, and was a criminal organization, but now it is a part of the Pokémon League out of necessity. If you do not, you will be viewed as traitors to the League, and World, and your titles, records, and accomplishments will be stripped from you and your Pokémon will be confiscated and given to other Trainers at best. At worst, you will be sent to prison, or even executed for the crimes you have committed here. Don't be fools. Join us. Join us, or face the consequences."

Ash and Mia glanced at each other and back at their Pokémon. Each of their Pokémon gave defiant looks and growled, nodding. The teens knew that their Pokémon would support them if they refused the League's offer. They then stared down the officials and declared, "No! And we both know that you don't speak for the League. You always have been part of Team Rocket and even if some League members believed the lies, not everyone will. And now, the truth will be revealed." They then motioned for the officials. "Come and get us, if you can," they challenged. With that, Ash and Mia's Pokémon went on the offensive. Pikachu, Charizard, and Venusaur, along with Mia's Tyranitar squared off against the Lake Guardians, while the rest of the Pokémon turned and dealt with the Pokémon League's Pokémon. Jolteon targeted Feraligatr with a Thunderbolt and unleashed it towards it. However, Rhyperior's presence attracted the bolt of lightning to its horn and before it could take down Feraligatr and it was redirected to the Ground/Rock-type Pokémon.

Ash's Blastoise quickly picked up the slack as he stepped forward and warned all friendly Pokémon to get behind him. He then unleashed a torrent of water form his water cannons. The water came out in the form of a wave and crashed bore down upon the enemy Pokémon. Even worse, was the fact that a noticeable amount of the team was quite vulnerable to Water-type attacks. The League officials' Pokémon attempted to evade the wave, but seeing that they would be unable to do so, they focused their firepower on the wave, unleashing a large variety of elemental attacks. However, Starmie quickly came in to assist Blastoise and unleashed a Surf attack of its own. The wave of water came crashing towards the Pokémon and the additional strength of Starmie's Surf was more than enough to overcome the enemy Pokémon's attempt to counter it.

The wave crashed down upon them and carried them backwards, sending them reeling. The part Flying-type Salamence, and Latios, who was able to fly, despite his typing, quickly rocketed up into the air to avoid the wave of water, but its comrades were not so fortunate. Even though Blaziken jumped into the air and launched a Fire Blast at Ash's Venusaur, who was currently engaging the Lake Guardians, the attack went wide since Venusaur saw it coming and it scored a direct hit on Mesprit instead, causing the Pokémon to move forward a few feet before it could recover. Gravity soon came into play and Blaziken soon fell back to the pad, and into the water. The Surf carried Blaziken back along with the other Pokémon, but being unable to brace itself against the initial surge, it was carried away with the tide. The wave of water continued until it fell over the edge of the pad, carrying Blaziken with it. The chicken-like Pokémon fell several stories before hitting an outcropping office roof, the water from Surf continuing to crash down on the now grievously injured Pokémon as it fell the rest of the way to the ground.

As for the other Pokémon, Rhyperior's Ground/Rock typing meant that it sustained four times the normal damage from the Surf attacks and it was quickly knocked out, freeing Jolteon to deal with Feraligatr. Typhlosion, also being a Fire-type, fell quickly to the two Surfs and was another casualty of the battle. The rest of the Pokémon managed to resist the attack, but any Pokémon that did not have a type resistance to Water-type attacks still suffered significant damage, with Swampert falling due to the damage it had received in the earlier exchange.

Elsewhere in the battle, Jolteon quickly dealt with Feraligatr, before it could launch a Surf attack of its own, with a single Thunderbolt. The bolt of lightning was more than powerful enough to take down the alligator. Mia's Venusaur unleashed a cloud of Sleep Powder at the other Pokémon in order to try and take them out of the fight. Salamence and Latios were too high to be affected, and they tried to deal with it with two Flamethrower attacks, but the attacks were quickly intercepted by a Stone Edge barrage from Donphan. Chandelure also launched a Shadow Ball towards Latios, wanting to take down the psychic dragon before he inflicted significant damage to Ash and Mia's teams. The Stone Edge barrage powered through the flames and struck both Salamence and Latios. Some of the flames managed to get through the cracks in the Stone Edge barrage and burn areas of the Sleep Powder cloud, but its power had been greatly reduced. Chandelure's Shadow Ball also scored a direct hit on Latios, causing an explosion that produced a large cloud of smoke, obscuring the Pokémon. After a few seconds, the Pokémon fell out of the smoke cloud, wisps of black smoke trailing it as it fell to the ground below. A single Ice Beam from Blastoise was enough to freeze Salamence solid and send it, too, crashing down to the ground. Fortunately, it had been flying towards the helipad in an attempt to launch into an Outrage attack so when it was frozen and hit the ground, it did not shatter.

Not too far away, Pikachu, Charizard, Ash's Venusaur, and Tyranitar were engaging the Lake Trio. Venusaur unleashed a cloud of Sleep Powder at the Trio, but the Lake Guardians simply rose above the cloud and prepared to counter with Psychic when a trio of attacks scored direct hits on them. Pikachu and Charizard hit Uxie and Mesprit with Thunderbolt and Fire Blast attacks respectively, while Tyranitar was careful to be the only one to target Azelf. He fired a Dark Pulse at the Willpower Pokémon, scoring a direct hit. This time, the attack was strong enough to take down the Pokémon. However, Giovanni quickly rushed over to administer a Max Revive to him. Seeing this, Tyranitar went to stop him by firing a Stone Edge barrage at him, forcing him to retreat in fear of his own life. Uxie and Mesprit wanted to help their fallen comrade, but they had their hands full with Charizard, Pikachu, and Venusaur, who had just scored a direct hit on Uxie with Energy Ball. So far, things were not looking good for Team Rocket.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, on a beach scene on one of the Hawaiian Islands, lights lit up the night as people and families went on rides, attended concerts, and played in the arcades. One of the families consisted of a Pokémon family. Mew and her mate for life had used Transform to assume the guise of a normal human family. Mew assumed the guise of a young woman in her mid twenties with red hair and green eyes. She wore a normal casual beach outfit. Her mate took the guise of a young man with brown hair and bluish gray eyes. He was slightly taller than Mew, who stood at almost six feet in height. They had even placed rings on their ring fingers to show that they were married and while their Pokémon World mating was not technically a marriage, since marriage was a human ceremony, for all intents and purposes, their mating was the same thing, for they had taken identical vows and stated they would be together for life and not take another mate for as long as they lived, which would likely be a very long time since they were already almost a thousand years old.

Mew and her mate frolicked around the boardwalk, playing games, going on rides, attending beachside concerts, and the like. They were all having a great deal of fun and did not have a single care in the world. That is, all except their son, Mewtwo. Mewtwo had no interest in concerts, going on rides, or in playing arcades. He just wanted to go back to Cerulean Cave and live alone, without any of the distractions that came from such a loud place.

He sat on top of one of the hotels overlooking the boardwalk that was close to the amusement park looked down at the families groups of people that were assembled on the boardwalk and at the amusement park. He watched the people of all ages walk by, with some riding by on bicycles. Gazing around, he did not see the signs of the extremely advanced technology that were so common in the United Earth nations. Save for the advanced look of some of the rollercoasters, there was no sign that this city was really any different from any of the cities of the Pokémon World regions.

Just as he began to think about the Pokémon World, a feeling came to him. He sensed a gathering of power, a dark power at that, somewhere in the Kanto Region of Japan. His eyes flashed as the realization that it was in the Kanto Region came. He could vaguely sense an assembly of Legendary Pokémon gathering at that location. He tried to scan to see if it was in or around Cerulean City. Fortunately, it was not too close to Cerulean City or Cerulean Cave. Still, he thought that this assembly warranted further investigation, especially since he thought that he could sense his one and only human friend in the middle of this gathering.

He was about to go and investigate when he heard a loud female voice cry from behind, "Oh look, it's such a cute Pokémon. I've gotta catch 'im!"

Mewtwo sighed and looked back, ready to reflect whatever Poké Ball was about to be thrown at him, and likely knock unconscious both Trainer and Pokémon when he saw the young human forms of his parents. His eyes flashed and their human disguises instantly disappeared, revealing their true forms. "What do you want?" he asked, shrugging.

"You're moping around up here instead of joining us down on the boardwalk and having fun," Mew replied, almost pouting.

"I sensed something going on in the Kanto Region of Japan. There is a gathering of Legendary Pokémon in a single area. There is also a dark sensation along with the power, as well as a battle brewing. I'm going to investigate."

"No you're not!" Mew countered, her eyes flashing a deep red, blocking Mewtwo's attempt to teleport. "You're gonna stay here with your father and me and have fun. There's a rock and jazz concert going on down on the beach. C'mon! Let's go!"

Mew then grabbed Mewtwo's arm and tried to drag him off the roof. He refused to budge, though, and he remained still until his father joined his mother, managing to pull him off the spot and drag him down to the concert. Mew and her mate transformed back into their human disguises and dragged Mewtwo down to the concert. They must have placed an illusory disguise over Mewtwo to make him look like their human son, for none of the people were giving him second looks or puzzled glances. Still, Mew's human form was drawing the gazes of numerous males. She also made no effort to ward them away as she fluttered her eyes at them as she went to the concert and began to dance. As they danced, though, Mewtwo merely stood in a corner and shrugged, trying to think of a way to escape and go back to Japan. He felt as if he needed to investigate what was going on in Kanto, especially since he was worried that his one human friend may have been in danger.

Back at Team Rocket Headquarters, Giovanni and the Pokémon League officials watched the battle with keen interest. They were growing quite concerned with how it was progressing, for even with their experienced Pokémon, and the presence of the seemingly enhanced Lake Guardians, the battle was greatly favoring Ash and Mia Ketchum. A Stone Edge attack and Fire Blast pushed back Uxie and Mesprit as they attempted to launch Psychic attacks on Tyranitar and Charizard. Still, the Legendaries were able to battle, but the battle was beginning to take its toll on them.

The battle would soon be interrupted, though as a helicopter rose came seemingly from underneath the pad and rose to meet them. It was gray helicopter that looked to resemble an attack helicopter, but had a passenger compartment. It was unmarked so there was no way to know its affiliation. When it appeared, all of the combatants stopped their battling and glanced over at the helicopter, waiting to see which side it was on. It continued to rise until it was about thirty feet above them. It then hovered above the helipad and made no moves.

The remaining League Pokémon soon continued their attack, with Meganium releasing a barrage of Razor Leaf, and Sceptile unleashing a barrage of Bullet Seed at Ash and Mia's Pokémon. Chandelure intercepted the attacks using Flamethrower and reduced the leaves and seeds to ashes. The attack also struck Meganium and was quickly swept over to Sceptile. Meganium was defeated almost instantly while Blastoise helped deal with the Sceptile as it attempted to evade the Flamethrower. Looking over at the Pokémon League officials' Pokémon, the group saw that only Blissey, Espeon, and Umbreon were still able to battle, along with Uxie and Mesprit of the Lake Trio, while Ash and Mia still had all of their Pokémon, though the constant battling was beginning to wear on them. Charizard was breathing heavily, Pikachu barely had any electricity left for attacking, and Tyranitar was showing signs of strain too. Given that the other Pokémon had also had their share of fighting, chances were that they were also winded, too.

The League officials, however, did not like where the battle was going. Even with Ash and Mia's Pokémon beginning to tire, they did not know if they would last long enough to deal with the few stragglers that remained, and even if their Pokémon managed to outlast Ash and Mia's, both teens were armed and while Ash would not use deadly force against them, Mia most certainly would. They quickly drew their Ray Guns and took aim at Mia. This proved to be a fatal mistake, for Mia quickly drew her own weapon and snapped off two shots at them. The shots struck both Alex and Lara in the chest, killing them both instantly. Once the two "League officials" had been dealt with, Mia turned to face Giovanni, crying, "Surrender now Giovanni! The battle is over."

"_You_ surrender, or face the consequences," came a sinister voice from above. Looking at the helicopter, Ash and Mia saw Butch, the one who had spoken, Cassidy, and the four Team Rocket Executives, Archer, Ariana, Proton, and Petrel, along with May, Dawn, Tracey, and his mother. Butch and Cassidy held two Ray Guns to the head of his mother, and four Rocket grunts that Ash recognized as the Rocket Brothers each held guns to the rest of his friends. "Surrender now Ash and Leaf, or we start killing your friends and family, starting with your mother!" Butch threatened. His sadistic grin was all they needed to see to know that he was serious. He then made like he was about to pull the trigger.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Ash and Mia's stared up at Butch and their eyes going wide in horror as they saw Butch preparing to kill their mother. "No, wait!" Ash cried holding his hands up and discarding his Ray Gun.

"You know the terms," Cassidy called. "Surrender or your mother dies. Then the rest of your friends will join them!"

Looking at Mia, he said, "I can't let them kill Mom."

Mia's look echoed his sentiment and her thoughts flared with their new bond. Looking up, defeated, Ash and Mia declared, "We surrender." Mia then dropped her Ray Gun to her feet and kicked it away. Jessie, James, and Meowth quickly came up from behind to cover the others. "We've done our part, now do yours," Mia declared. "Release the hostages."

Butch merely sniggered. "No," he replied. Looking down at Jessie and James, he told them, "Bind their hands and make sure it hurts."

Jessie and James soon approached, and a rope fell from the helicopter. A dozen Rockets and Pokémon League officials soon appeared on the scene, releasing their Pokémon, mostly consisting of the Johto starters, but also of the Sinnoh starters: Infernape, Torterra, a large green and brown tortoise-like Pokémon with a tree on its back, and Empoleon, a human sized Pokémon that resembled a penguin with a blue and black coloring, among others like Machamp, Alakazam, and even a Glaceon. The new arrivals outnumbered the exhausted Pokémon of Ash and Mia. Still, the teens were not willing to surrender, not when they knew that their friends and family would either be killed or held over them as leverage.

Mia began the rebellion by kicking Jessie in the leg, causing her to cry out in pain. She then lowered herself and performed a leg sweep, knocking the Rocket off her feet. She then went for the Ray Gun just as the Pokémon League troopers prepared to draw their own guns. She got the gun and, seeing a trooper take aim at Ash just as he kicked James and spun away from the Rocket, she fired and a green beam scored a direct hit on the League trooper, hitting squarely in the chest, felling him. She then targeted Butch and Cassidy inside the helicopter and took two shots. Her first shot went wide of Butch, but it managed to force him to recoil and dive away from her mother. Her second shot hit Cassidy in the side, causing her to cry out in pain as she fell, a hole burned into the lower left part of her torso. There, she lay on the floor, clutching her wound, not knowing if she would live or die. Delia then fought back against the League troopers and the Rockets inside, as did the other captives. May ducked a punch and responded with a kick to the knee, causing the Rocket Brother that she hit to cry out in agony. She then pushed him out the hatch, where he fell to the ground, over the edge since the helicopter was still a few feet away from the pad. The Brother cried as he fell to his death.

Dawn and Tracey, not ones to sit around and do nothing, also managed to free themselves, Tracey shoving another Rocket Brother off of the helicopter. Dawn fought with her captor, kicking him in the knee, causing him to howl in pain and hop around on one leg. This was unfortunate for him because as he was hopping, he lost his balance and fell out of the helicopter, and onto the pavement more than eleven stories below. Delia, not willing to let everyone else fight and not participate in the battle, herself, went over to deal with the final Rocket Brother. With skills she never knew she had, she hit him in the face with an open palm strike. As he was sent reeling, she delivered a side kick to the abdomen which sent him reeling even farther back, and off of the helicopter.

As the fighting was continuing once more, though, Giovanni and the Pokémon League troopers decided that it was time to put an end to this costly battle. Calling out a Parasect from a Poké Ball, one of the troopers inside the passenger compartment of the helicopter commanded, "Parasect, cut the ropes and use Spore on everyone in here."

Parasect looked back at him questioningly.

"Don't ask questions," the trooper blurted, "just do it!"

Parasect then went to cut the ropes, but Charizard still had some fight left in him. Seeing that Parasect was about to unleash a Spore cloud, as well as cut the ropes, he let loose with a Fire Blast. The blast of flame streaked towards the bug and mushroom-like Pokémon, entered the helicopter without even grazing the sides of the hull, and scored a direct hit on Parasect, taking it down with one attack. Delia and the others quickly freed themselves, Delia grabbing the wounded Cassidy's Ray Gun, and opened fire on the remaining Rockets inside, covering the teens as they made their way to the ropes and slid down them. She took down several Rockets, the stunned helicopter crew members unable to go for their own weapons before falling to her hail of energy fire, and caused the others to dive for cover. Before following the others off the helicopter, though, she went over and retrieved the Poké Balls of the other captives, as well as those of Ash's Pokémon that had been helping her in the fighting. Once she had retrieved them, she rushed to the ropes before the pilot managed to get back into his seat and take the controls, and fly the helicopter off the building's edge. She grabbed one of the ropes and slid down just as the helicopter was beginning to fly away from the building and cut off her escape. Seeing that she would not be able to hold on and still touch down onto the pad, Delia let go and fell to the ground from about ten feet in the air. The helicopter then backed off and seemed to flee the fight, flying away from the building.

She touched down softly and rushed over to the other teens. Standing in front of them were the four Rocket Executives, each of them wearing their own uniforms, with Archer and Ariana wearing their signature white shirts with red Rs on black pocket over their left breasts. "That's far enough," the turquoise haired Archer stated menacingly as he tossed his Poké Balls into the air and let out his Pokémon, consisting of Crobat, Weezing, and the demon dog-like Houndoom. The rest of the Executives also deployed their own Pokémon with Ariana sending out Muk, Arbok, and Vileplume, a plant-like Pokémon with a short, rotund purple body with red polka dotted petals on its head; Proton sending out a Crobat and a Weezing, and Petrel sending out five Koffings and one Weezing.

Delia and the others wasted no time grabbing the Poké Balls and opening them, calling, "Everyone, come on out!"

The entire teams for Ash's friends and Delia came out, with Sceptile, Infernape, Gigalith, Krookodile, Swellow, and Scrafty coming to the aid of Delia. The teams quickly formed up around their Trainers and the Rocket Executives stared at the teams, looks of alarm crossing their faces, seeing that they were outnumbered by the Pokémon of Ash's friends and family. Still, they knew that they could not allow Delia and the others to support Ash and Mia, so, knowing that they would likely lose, they cried, "Everyone go! Attack them now!"

Upon hearing the command, Team Rocket's Pokémon charged Delia, the others, and their Pokémon. Ash's friends and mother merely cried, "Everyone go!" And with that, they, too, charged towards Team Rocket.

Elsewhere on the pad, the fighting between Ash, Mia, and Team Rocket was getting furious once more. Ash performed a side kick on James of Team Rocket, forcing him away. The unfortunate Rocket agent was then hit with a Thunderbolt from Pikachu. As Pikachu was taking on James, though, Meowth blindsided him with a Fury Swipes attack from behind. Pikachu gave a cry as he took the hits, but turned and knocked Meowth unconscious with a retaliatory Iron Tail. Meanwhile, Serperior was battling with Torterra and gave better than she got as she took it down with a Leaf Storm that had already been powered up by Contrary when she used it to previously deal with a Feraligatr.

The Lake Trio also reentered the battle, with Giovanni using the lull in the fighting, and the confusion as it started again, to use a Max Revive on Azelf, bringing it back into the fight. Charizard and Tyranitar tried to hold them off, but they were showing their fatigue as they only launched a Stone Edge attack and Flamethrower at two of the Pokémon, Azelf and Mesprit, allowing Uxie to teleport away from them. Azelf and Mesprit recoiled from the attacks but were still able to fight. Azelf used Psychic to send Charizard flying through the air as Tyranitar was hit from behind by a Water Pulse from a Swampert. While Swampert was swiftly dealt with by Mia's Venusaur when it launched a Razor Leaf barrage, Mesprit was still able to escape and make its way towards Ash and Mia.

"Now!" Giovanni called to the Lake Guardians. "End the fight!"

Ash was searching for Mia so he could help her when Uxie appeared directly in front of him. "Uxie!" he blurted in shock as Uxie opened its eyes, looking Ash squarely in the eyes. Just before Uxie could make eye contact with Ash, though, the boy closed his eyes and crouched in order to avoid Uxie's gaze.

Mia, seeing Ash duck beneath Uxie's gaze, feared the worst until she saw him back away, his eyes closed. She rushed over to try to help him against Uxie when Azelf and Mesprit appeared in front of her. She dodged their attempts to touch her and sap her willpower and emotion as Ash's Pikachu and her Venusaur quickly engaged the other two Lake Guardians.

Azelf attempted to avoid fighting Pikachu and headed towards Ash, trying to attack him, but Tyranitar rushed onto the scene and knocked the Lake Guardian away, allowing Pikachu to head over to Ash unimpeded. Since Tyranitar was part Dark-type, he was unaffected by Azelf's special ability. Starmie and Chandelure then joined Mia in order to cover her, which left Mesprit free to attack. Ash ran to her as Mesprit was about to drain her of her emotions and he tried to knock the Pokémon away. Mesprit quickly rose into the air, staring at him. Ash looked up at the Pokémon, scarcely believing that the Lake Guardians would be working for Team Rocket willingly. Mesprit soon rushed towards Ash once more, only to be met with a volley of gray stones as Tyranitar intercepted it with Stone Edge to keep the Pokémon at bay. Mia quickly joined the battle, calling over to Venusaur, "Venusaur, use Sleep Powder to put the Lake Guardians to sleep!" She hoped that by using Sleep Powder, Venusaur would not be put in any danger from the effects of the Guardians from when they were attacked.

The trio made it a lot more difficult than she wished, though, rising into he air and using Psychic to create a blue energy field around Venusaur. The trio then sent the Pokémon flying through the air. Chandelure used its own psychic powers to arrest Venusaur's momentum and bring him down safely. Ash's Venusaur soon went to cover for Mia's Pokémon, unleashing a cloud of Sleep Powder towards the Legendary Pokémon. Mesprit and Azelf were able to avoid the cloud, but Uxie was too slow to respond and some of the powder made contact with its skin. The Pokémon floated above the rest of the cloud, hoping that the small amount that managed to touch its skin would not put it to sleep. So far, it was okay as Venusaur followed up with an Energy Ball, the Legendary Pokémon managing to avoid the attack and continue fighting.

Not too far away, Delia, May, Dawn, and Tracey were badly mauling the Team Rocket Executives. Their superior numbers did more than make a difference. Even had the numbers been equal, the outcome would be no different. They had turned a battle where they would have already held the advantage, into a complete rout. Petrel's five Koffings and Weezing were the first Pokémon to fall, having been taken down by May's Blaziken and Blastoise. Dawn's Typhlosion and Mamoswine took down Proton's Crobat and Weezing with a Flamethrower and Blizzard attack respectively.

Archer and Ariana saw how the Pokémon of their fellow Executives were beaten and decided that they needed a new plan fast. They called over to their Pokémon, "Everyone fall back and regroup!"

The Pokémon looked back at them, the surprise at the order evident on their faces. Still, they were smart enough to know that they did not stand a chance, being outnumbered more than three-to-one and having to face down multiple Pokémon that had a type advantage over them. They did not get the chance to regroup, though, as Krookodile stepped forward and stomped on the ground, using Earthquake. Muk, Arbok, and Houndoom were taken down with the Earthquake, their type disadvantage partially being responsible for their undoing. Crobat, Weezing, and Vileplume stepped back and prepared to unleash a barrage of attacks. "Vileplume, use Sleep Powder, Weezing, use Sludge Bomb, Crobat, use Supersonic," Archer and Ariana cried towards their Pokémon.

Their Pokémon looked back at them, nodding, Vileplume letting out a cloud of Sleep Powder while Weezing launched a Sludge Bomb and Crobat let loose a Supersonic attack on Delia, May, Dawn, and Tracey's Pokémon. Typhlosion and Blaziken stepped forward and incinerated the Sleep Powder cloud, along with the Vileplume, without being given any orders from Dawn or May, the receiving Pokémon fortunate to not be killed by the two Flamethrowers unleashed upon them. Crobat's Supersonic proved to be ineffective as well, failing to confuse any of its targets. Pachirisu promptly fried Crobat with Discharge, the bat-like Pokémon falling out of the sky, and crashing to the helipad, unconscious. Finally, the rest of the allied Pokémon finished off Weezing with a barrage of attacks. The Poison-type gasbag did not stand a chance. Still, Team Rocket's Executives were not beaten yet.

The Executives quickly recalled their fallen Pokémon and backed away a few more feet. As they backed away, they drew their Ray Guns and took aim at the Pokémon and Trainers that were arrayed against them. They knew that they would not be able to take down all of their enemies. Still, they felt as if they could still do _some_ damage against Ash and Mia's friends and family. To that end, they opened fire, spraying a volley of energy blasts at both Trainer and Pokémon. The humans quickly dove to the ground, giving themselves as small a profile as possible, followed quickly by many of the larger Pokémon. Still, there were too many Pokémon that could still fight and were small enough to not be easily spotted targets. Pachirisu and Piplup were the first to counterattack, unleashing a Discharge and a Bubblebeam attack, respectively, against the Rockets.

The Discharge struck Archer and Ariana and instantly fried them, taking them down and knocking them unconscious. Next came Piplup's Bubblebeam, which targeted Petrel. Petrel saw the attack coming, though, and was able to dive to the ground avoiding it. The bubbles hit a ways away from the Rocket as he grinned back at the Pokémon.

Proton, seeing that there was little choice, decided that he had to do something fast before they were overwhelmed, given that their firepower had been cut in half with the fall of Archer and Ariana. He quickly grabbed to orange spheres wrapped in an adhesive and pushed a button on them, causing the orbs to start to glow. Dawn, noticing the glowing bombs, cried to her Pokémon, "Everyone, target the glowing orbs!"

Her Pokémon obeyed and Mamoswine led the attack, firing off a Blizzard right at Proton as well as Petrel, who was rising and opening fire once more. The icy winds and snowflakes buffeted Proton and snow began to build up around his body. The ice began to crystallize and eventually, he was frozen solid by the attack. Petrel continued his assault, only to be frozen solid by an Ice Beam from May's Blastoise. The orbs continued to glow until they detonated, blowing apart the frozen Proton in the process. The concussion from the blast also knocked over Petrel, who shattered upon falling. With the Rocket Executives having been dealt with, they left the scene in order to support Ash and Mia against Giovanni.

Not too far away, Ash and Mia's Pokémon continued to fight desperately against the Lake Guardians. Charizard launched a Fire Blast on Uxie, scoring a direct hit on the Legendary Pokémon. The Pokémon recoiled and gave a grunt of pain. It then opened its eyes, trying to draw a bead on Charizard, but the dragon had already rocketed into the air to avoid staring into Uxie's eyes, not wanting to have his mind wiped. Tyranitar continued his battle with Azelf, charging towards the Legendary Pokémon. Azelf responded by firing a Swift attack at the oncoming Rock/Dark-type Pokémon. Yellow stars of energy erupted from the mouth of the pixie and lashed out at Tyranitar. Tyranitar, being resistant to the attack, merely charged through the barrage, allowing the starts to bounce off of his armored hide. The part Dark-type Pokémon then reached out and grabbed Azelf. Bringing it to its mouth, Tyranitar then opened his mouth and bit down on Azelf's head, using Crunch. Azelf gave a cry of pain as it took the full power of the attack. Uxie, however, felt the pain of Azelf and immediately teleported over to its comrade. It then opened its mouth and yawned in Tyranitar's direction. A bubble emerged from its mouth and floated towards Tyranitar. Charizard roared to Tyranitar in warning, but the large Pokémon did not notice the attack until it was too late. The bubble made contact with Tyranitar and popped. The armored Pokémon then began to feel drowsy but continued its battle against Azelf.

Azelf, knowing that it only had to endure perhaps one more attack before Tyranitar would fall asleep, prepared to intercept the attack. Its eyes glowed as Tyranitar charged towards it in order to perform another Crunch. As the large Pokémon went to grab it, it avoided the grab and floated away from Tyranitar. As soon as Tyranitar turned to face it once more, the Pokémon began to slow down. Its charge slowed to a jog as it began to slowly stagger towards Azelf before curling up onto the ground and falling asleep. With Tyranitar asleep, Azelf was free to use its power to attack anyone and everyone else that went against it and its master, Giovanni.

It and the other Lake Guardians soon scanned the battlefield in search of Ash and Mia, knowing that if they dealt with them, that the battle would be won. The Pokémon quickly managed to spot Ash and Mia. Mia fired a single green energy blast at one of the Pokémon League officials that had been drawing a bead on her mother. The beam of energy struck the official in the chest and felled him. A second shot felled the second official. Her attack distracted the troopers away from her family and brother's friends and towards her. She ran away from Ash, trying to draw their attention away from him as well, while he continued to guide his Pokémon in battle against the Lake Guardians. She succeeded and they simply opened fire her way. Their shots went wide and she dove to the ground, making herself as small a target as possible. She was soon supported by Jolteon and Chandelure, who unleashed a Thunderbolt and Flamethrower towards the troopers, respectively. The Pokémon League troopers that were shocked into unconsciousness were the lucky ones, as Chandelure reduced four League troopers to ashes. Mia smiled as some of the troopers were left alive. She wanted them to be able to answer the questions that Cynthia and Lance would undoubtedly have whenever they arrived.

As for the Lake Guardians, they were making their way towards the teens when a barrage of attacks came to meet them. Azelf used Detect while Uxie use Endure to endure Blastoise's Surf while Mesprit used Protect to protect itself from the Surf. However, that attack left them open to Charizard's Fire Blast and other attacks. Azelf attempted to use Detect again, but the technique failed and it was unable to avoid the Fire Blast, suffering a direct hit and being sent flying backwards from the hit, crashing into the ground a few meters away. It rose, still able to battle but was unsteady in its floating, the fighting beginning to take its toll on the Legendary. As for Uxie and Mesprit, a Solar Beam from Venusaur scored a direct hit on the Knowledge Pokémon, outright knocking it unconscious, while a subsequent Hydro Pump sent Mesprit flying backwards, and crashing into the body of the disabled helicopter, denting its hull and falling to the ground. The two remaining Lake Guardians rose from their respective positions and stared down the oncoming Pokémon, realizing very quickly that they were vastly outnumbered. It also was not long before the Pokémon of Ash's other allies went to join his and Mia's. They knew that they were about to be in for a world of hurt. Things were looking bad for them.

Back over at Ash and Mia, after they had finished with the Pokémon League troopers, she went to look for more targets when a sensation of dread came over her as she turned and found Giovanni holding Ash in his arms, a Ray Gun pointed to his head. The boy struggled against Giovanni's grip but was unable to get free. Somehow, though, Mia had a feeling that he might not have wanted to be free. Giovanni, however, grinned at the girl and delivered his ultimatum, "Surrender now, Leaf, or Ash dies."

Meanwhile, on the roof of another sector of the base, Aizen stood next to Genesect's tube, which he had extracted from deep within Team Rocket Headquarters, watching the battle with great interest. His interest, however, had quickly transformed into disgust as Team Rocket was hemorrhaging Legendary Pokémon and troops. He fingered his five Poké Balls and considered sending in his own Legendaries to help out Giovanni. He had hoped that Team Rocket would have drawn the attention of Mewtwo and bring the Super Legendary Pokémon out of hiding. He could use Mewtwo's battling with the other Legendaries as cover while he launched his own attack on Mewtwo, hopefully killing him in the surprise attack. However, with the Legendaries being beaten as easily as they were, he doubted that his own Legendaries would make that much of a difference. He would have to come up with another strategy. He surreptitiously scanned the minds of all of the still living combatants, of which there were surprisingly few. While there were still plenty of grunts still alive, he knew that the battle was quickly coming to an end. Still, he continued to watch. Perhaps something would happen that would change the current circumstances and bring out Mewtwo. Several contingency plans were forming in his mind, though, just in case his target did not show itself.

Back at the site of the battle, Mia and the others stopped fighting and looked over at Giovanni, who was gripping Ash tightly, holding the boy in his left arm, while he held a Ray Gun out to Mia. Ash struggled against Giovanni's grip, trying to break free. As he struggled against the superior strength of Giovanni, though, Giovanni cried, "Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit, help me take out this boy!"

Azelf and Mesprit quickly appeared in front of Giovanni, blank yet dark expressions in their faces showing Ash all he needed to know. "Use your special abilities on him, and then on the others. End this fight!"

Azelf was about to take away Ash's willpower, and Mesprit his emotions, when a Thunderbolt and a blast of fire in the form of a human stick figure lashed out at the two remaining Lake Guardians. Each attack scored a direct hit on the Lake Guardian and forced them away from Ash. Ash then struggled with Giovanni, grabbing the barrel of the Ray Gun, trying to turn it away from him as Giovanni attempted to pull the trigger. He managed to push the weapon away from him as the gun discharged a green blast of energy. As they continued to struggle, though, Giovanni was suddenly able to point the gun back at Ash. He was about to pull the trigger when Mia arrived and struck him in the head with an open palm strike. The attack caused Giovanni's grip on Ash to loosen and for him to stagger backwards a few feet. Ash retreated from Giovanni, and the rest of the fighting as Team Rocket and their Pokémon reengaged Delia and Ash's friends.

The Rockets and corrupt Pokémon League troopers that had not been killed in the fighting were slowly beginning to rise and use any Revives that they had on their strongest Pokémon. The Hoenn Starters that had been taken down were the first to rise and continue the battle. Soon, they were joined by other Team Rocket Pokémon who had been administered to. However, they would soon be joined by other Rocket grunts coming from the exit not too far away. What looked to be a small army of Pokémon, mostly consisting of Grimers, Muks, Koffings, and Weezings, with a few Drowzees, Hypnos, Kadabras, and Alakazams sprinkled in as well, came out to join the battle. They attacked Delia and the others from behind, forcing them to divide their attention. However, despite the surprise attack, the allies' Pokémon were able to intercept it and respond.

Krookodile stepped forward and warned the other allied Pokémon away from him as he stomped on the ground, using Earthquake. The helipad began to shake as rings of energy expanded outward from Krookodile. As the rings of energy expanded, cracks appeared in the metal floor. Bits of metal shot into the air as the ground cracked. The grounded Poison-type Pokémon, Grimer and Muk, that were charging in to use Sludge Bomb and other ranged Poison-type attacks were taken down with single hits as the rings struck them and caused them to cry out in pain as the shock from the attack inflicted enough damage to cause them to faint. The shaking ground also caused several bipedal Pokémon, along with some Rockets, to lose their footing and fall to the ground, or kneel down so that they would not fall uncontrollably. A couple of the Rockets were a little too close to the edges of the platform when the Earthquake came and they stumbled and fell over the edge, and to the ground eleven stories below.

The allied Pokémon were quickly supported by Starmie and Chandelure, both of whom used Psychic to knock out the Poison-type Koffings and Weezings before they could retaliate. With the Poison-type Pokémon having been dealt with, that left only the Drowzees, Hypnos, Kadabras, and Alakazams. With Tyranitar being busy helping Mia, and Ash's Pokémon all engaged in battles of their own, it was up to the allied Pokémon, Starmie, and Chandelure to deal with the enemy psychic Pokémon. Chandelure started the battle by firing a Shadow Ball at the lead Pokémon of the enemy force, scoring a direct hit on the Alakazam, taking it down with one hit. The other Pokémon turned to focus on Chandelure, seeing it as the greatest threat, only to suffer from a Metal Claw from Tracey's Scizor, who tore into the fray and began slashing with its claws every which way, scattering Team Rocket's Pokémon. Krookodile and Scrafty, both of who were immune to Psychic-type attacks, also charged in to support their allies. Just as it had been with the rest of the battle, things were looking very grim for Team Rocket.

Not too far away from the battle against Team Rocket's reinforcements, Ash and Mia continued to press their attack on Giovanni, Mia throwing a flurry of punches and even a couple of kicks, with Ash managing to block a punch from Giovanni. Mia demonstrated noticeable skills in the martial arts as she kept Giovanni on the defensive. However, the battle would not last, for Azelf would soon join the battle on Giovanni's side. Pikachu, Charizard, and Tyranitar quickly tried to join the fight, only to be intercepted by Mesprit and Uxie, who were backed up by a Typhlosion, Meganium, and Feraligatr. Looking behind them, they saw a Rocket agent motioning towards them. Apparently, he had given the unconscious Pokémon, a Revive or Max Revive. "Everyone, focus on those three Pokémon! Mesprit, Uxie, focus on Charizard and Pikachu. The rest of you, take on Tyranitar. Under no circumstances are you to allow those Pokémon to get through and fight Azelf! We must protect the boss at all costs!"

The Pokémon nodded as they rushed towards Ash and Mia's Pokémon. With all of the Pokémon busy fighting the Team Rocket grunts and Pokémon League soldiers that had merely been knocked unconscious, rather than killed, including Jessie, James, and Meowth once more, as well as Ash going to assist his Pokémon against Mesprit and Uxie, Mia was on her own against both Giovanni and Azelf. Giovanni recoiled from a side kick to the chest and staggered backwards. Mia was about to charge in and finish the job when she found her movements restricted by a blue energy field that encompassed her entire body. Try as she might, she was unable to move. Giovanni gave a dark grin went over to pick up his discarded Ray Gun.

"You may be a skilled fighter and Pokémon Trainer, but in the end, you're just a little girl who got in over her head," he gloated as he went to level the weapon on the helpless girl. He was about to fire when Ash rushed towards him and surprise attacked him, punching him in the head, causing him to recoil. Ash then went to grab the Ray Gun and pull it away from Giovanni, but the man resisted and the two struggled for control of the gun. Not only that, but Tyranitar managed to unleash a Stone Edge on Azelf, hurting it and causing it to lose its concentration and break off its attack on Mia. It soon turned and stared at Mia, drawing a bead on her, powering an Extrasensory attack when Tyranitar came up from behind and used Crunch on it. Next, a bolt of lightning flashed past a diving Mia's face and she heard a cry of surprise and shock not too far away. Looking ahead, she suddenly saw Giovanni fall to the ground, electricity arcing across his body as Ash dove away from him. She focused her gaze on him and saw that he was not moving, and could not discern any rise or fall from his chest that would indicate that he was still breathing.

Turning behind her, she saw Pikachu's cheeks still crackling with electricity as he gave a satisfied nod and quickly turned back to help Charizard with Uxie and Mesprit, both he and Charizard being careful to avoid looking into Uxie's eyes. Turning back to Azelf, she noticed that despite the damage taken from Tyranitar's Crunch, Azelf appeared to still be able to battle. It turned and focused its attention towards Mia, intending to carry out its master's orders, despite the fact that its master was now down and possibly out. It soon went to fire the beam of Extrasensory at Mia when it was blindsided once more by Tyranitar. Charizard and Pikachu also wanted to join the fight, but were warned away by Tyranitar. They, instead, went to deal with Uxie and Mesprit, both of who were heading over to Ash to take him down. When they arrived, he turned to them and assured them, "I'm fine. I got out of there before Giovanni was hit."

Mia, who was now free from Azelf's control, joined Ash so she could help him and the others finish the fight. However, the Lake Guardians had other plans and quickly charged towards the group, their eyes glowing.

Mia and Pokémon arrived before the Lake Guardians and barred their way. As it was, a Drowzee under the control of Team Rocket, seeing that a battle was about to be waged close to their master, along with the presence of the girl who would want nothing more than to finish him off, used Psychic to pull the now incapacitated Giovanni out of the fray at the command of a Team Rocket grunt, who was trying to support Jessie, James, and Meowth in dealing with Ash's Venusaur, Blastoise, and Serperior. It was not until the boss arrived at the Pokémon that the Pokémon realized, along with the grunt and the Team Rocket Trio, that Giovanni had been incapacitated, possibly even having taken a fatal injury. The Team Rocket Trio looked over at the grunt and told him, "You keep those Pokémon off us. We'll get the boss out of here!"

"Got it," the grunt replied as he commanded his remaining Pokémon, a Drowzee, Houndour, a first pre-evolution of Houndoom; Fearow, and Flygon to engage the three Pokémon facing them down. The grunt and his Pokémon did not last long, though, as Serperior opened the battle by using Attract. Pink hearts erupted from the eyes of the Pokémon and raced towards the Pokémon. They struck all of the Pokémon and suddenly, pink hearts appeared in the eyes of all of the Pokémon, save for Flygon. Blastoise made certain to take care of Flygon with a single Ice Beam. The beam of ice scored a direct hit on the Ground/Dragon-type and a sheet of ice formed over the torso of the Pokémon. The Pokémon quickly came crashing to the ground, the sheet of ice shattering upon impact. There, Flygon lay, unconscious. As for the other Pokémon, Venusaur used Sludge Bomb to take down the infatuated Drowzee, allowing Blastoise to finish off Houndour and Fearow with Surf, dowsing them with a torrent of water, knocking them out of the fight as well.

Not too far away, Team Rocket grabbed their boss and began retreating back towards the entrance to the base, hoping that they could duck away from the fighting and find someplace safe to put Giovanni while they figured out what was wrong with him and how to help him. As they neared the entrance, though, a Hyper Beam lashed out at the ground in front of them, blasting a large hole into the ground. Jessie, James, Meowth, and Giovanni were thrown backwards away from the explosion, and each other, which did them little good, since the attack only served to draw the attention of everyone towards them. Still, everyone was looking up, rather than focusing on them. They, too, looked up and saw none other than the Sinnoh League Champion Cynthia riding on top of her Garchomp. Behind her were two gray helicopters bearing thee insignia of the Pokémon League. For a moment, Archer wondered if they were his own League members. His hopes were dashed as a loud voice cried out over the din, "All members of Team Rocket, surrender now. Throw down your weapons, recall your Pokémon and toss the Poké Balls away, kneel down on the ground, place your hands on your head interlocking your fingers. Failure to comply will be met with deadly force."

As if to accentuate the point, over a dozen Pokémon League troopers, those actually loyal to the Pokémon League, appeared on the scene, having been teleported to the helipad by an Alakazam, as well as Saffron City's Gym Leader, Sabrina. Each trooper also had two Pokémon already deployed as well, consisting of various Pokémon ranging from Charizard, to Swampert, to Gardevoir. In addition, Misty and Brock also appeared on the scene, Misty deploying her Starmie, Staryu, and Gyarados, with Brock sending out his Steelix and Golem. "It's over Team Rocket," they both declared.

Most of the Rockets, knowing that their time had come, decided that it would be best to surrender and not continue the fight. A few, however, still tried to launch a last desperate attack of some kind. They yelled to their Koffings and Weezings, "Use Sludge Bomb on the Pokémon League's Pokémon and the Gym Leaders' Pokémon. While they're dodging that, get in there and use Explosion to take out as many of the enemy as you can!"

The Pokémon's eyes went wide at the order, glancing back and forth between the small army that had been arrayed against them but still followed the order and prepared to attack. Their charge was stopped before it began when Sabrina, along with her Kadabra, Alakazam, and the League troopers' Gardevoir's eyes glowed and sent the Team Rocket Pokémon flying in all directions, often into each other. Misty's Starmie's core glowed and it, too, joined in the attack, finishing off the Team Rocket Pokémon that had foolishly continued to fight.

Archer watched as the few resisting Rockets were quickly dispatched by Cynthia, Sabrina, Misty, Brock, and the Pokémon League troopers. He quickly turned and saw Jessie, James, and Meowth attempting to take Giovanni away from the helipad when Delia, May, Dawn, and Tracey ran over and stopped them, Delia pointing a Ray Gun at them with their Pokémon forming up around the humans, blocking the Rockets' path. They were soon joined by Cynthia and Lance. He then turned to Ash and Mia, the latter of who was dealing with two remaining Rocket grunts, showing her merciful side as she allowed Pikachu to shock them into unconsciousness rather than kill them outright. He then looked all around the helipad and saw the few surviving, and conscious, Rockets surrendering to the Pokémon League troopers and Cynthia. Not too far away, Ash's Charizard, Pikachu, and Leaf's Tyranitar finished off the Lake Guardians, allowing Ash and Mia to go over and grab Giovanni's Poké Balls and recall the Pokémon, sealing the balls once the Pokémon were recalled until they could be sure that releasing them would neutralize whatever controlling forces were being placed on the Pokémon.

He seethed at the sight around him. He looked on as he saw Ariana lying face-first on the ground, Pokémon League troopers going over to bind her hands and feet. Her Pokémon were now being recalled and their Poké Balls sealed. Jessie, James, and Meowth were in no condition to fight, and Giovanni was lying on the ground either unconscious or dead. He knew that it was over. Team Rocket was beaten. There was no way to save it now. There would be no escape. It was over. He would spend the rest of his life in prison, if not be executed outright for the crimes of Team Rocket. There were enough survivors who would plea bargain to receive a lesser sentence and tell the Pokémon League everything they knew about the inner workings of Team Rocket. League forces were already nearing the Blunder Trio and Giovanni, ready to subdue them. Seeing that there was no one left to fight, he decided that it would be best to surrender. As such, he got down on his knees and placed his hands behind his head, interlocking his fingers, just as directed by the Pokémon League forces. He could only hope that none of the other captured Rockets would turn on him and work with the Pokémon League in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Back near Giovanni, though, there was one Rocket and group that had yet to surrender. Near the edge of the platform, a helicopter rose to meet the group, armed with what looked like a chin mounted machine gun and rockets on small wings on its side. It immediately lit into the Pokémon League forces nearing Giovanni, causing them to scatter as energy bolts were fired their way, the bolts failing to score any hits but doing their job in causing the League forces to scatter. Cynthia, the three Gym Leaders, and the others turned and saw the helicopter that had launched the surprise attack turn to its side and a door open. Standing in the doorway was Butch, who was standing to a wounded Cassidy who was lying on her side, and a Hypno. "Hypno, get Giovanni onboard now, then send this pad crashing down to the ground!" Butch commanded.

"Hypno," the psychic Pokémon responded, looking back at Butch. Another grunt soon appeared and opened a Poké Ball, a Kadabra emerging from the ball. Kadabra used Psychic to push the Pokémon League forces away from Giovanni as they were bringing him onboard and covered the escape. It also erected a Light Screen barrier over the helicopter in order to protect Hypno, as well as ensure that the helicopter would not be shot down during its escape.

Ash and Mia quickly ordered their Pokémon to go on the attack, Ash commanding, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on that helicopter! Charizard, use Blast Burn to take it down!"

"Tyranitar, Venusaur, bring that thing down!" Mia directed, pointing towards the helicopter.

The Pokémon obeyed and unleashed a torrent of attacks on it. Pikachu's Thunderbolt and Charizard's Blast Burn were the first attacks to hit, striking the Light Screen, head on, but failing to penetrate it before Kadabra erected a new screen around the entrances and the left side of the helicopter. It soon erected a Reflect shield as well, seeing Tyranitar launching a barrage of stones its way. While the helicopter's armor would likely have held out, the Pokémon did not want to take the chance of it being knocked out by a lucky hit. The stones struck the Reflect barrier but failed to penetrate.

While the Pokémon were attacking, Giovanni was being taken onboard the helicopter. As he was being lifted up into the air, his eyes slowly opened as his chest was visibly rising and falling. After a few seconds, he was safely onboard the helicopter and the grunt went over to him and dragged him over towards the cockpit, and away from the hatch. As he dragged the boss, Giovanni awakened and looked weakly at the scene. Seeing that he was onboard the helicopter, he groaned, "What's going on?"

"The Pokémon League, Ash, and Leaf have managed to capture everyone. Cynthia's there, too, along with the Kanto Gym Leaders Brock, Misty, and Sabrina. We're all that's left, and it looks like they'll get us before long unless we get out of here now."

"Then it's over," he sighed with resignation. "But we shall deny the League its victory. Destroy the helipad and then the base. Take them all down now."

The grunt's eyes flashed for a second, knowing that all of the machinery and the Legendary Pokémon that were inside the base would be lost. But seeing that there was little alternative, he knew that Giovanni knew what he was doing as he, too, looked pained at what he had ordered. Eventually, he answered, "Aye sir." Turning to Butch, he commanded, "Tell your Pokémon to destroy the helipad and to scuttle the base."

At first, Butch looked shocked at the orders that were being given, but upon seeing Giovanni nod, he began to see that the order came from Giovanni. Looking down at the scene below, he realized that it would not be so bad. Team Rocket may be gone, but they would take their bane, and much of the Pokémon League leadership with them. And there was always the possibility of Giovanni reestablishing the group at a later date. He knew that a lot of Rockets would die, too, but that did not trouble him. At least he would outlive Jessie, James, and Meowth, or the Blunder Trio as he had taken to calling them. Seeing that his boss was safe in the cockpit, he saw that all that was left was to carry out his boss's orders. To that end, he commanded the Kadabra and Hypno, "Kadabra, Hypno, use Psychic to collapse the helipad."

He grinned as their eyes began to glow and the pad began to shake. The grunt soon reentered the passenger compartment and Butch told him, "It's about to go."

"I'll inform Giovanni so he and the pilot can prepare the scuttling charges."

Back down on the helipad, Ash and Mia suddenly felt the pad begin to vibrate. The vibrations soon became worse and it felt as if an earthquake was occurring on the pad, everyone struggling to maintain their footing, the League soldiers close to the edges diving towards the center of the pad to avoid being shaken off. Cynthia, knowing that the helipad was about to fall, yelled to everyone, "Everyone inside the base now! This thing's about to collapse!"

The allied forces did not need to be told twice as Misty and Brock promptly recalled their Pokémon back into their Poké Balls, as did the rest of the League forces. They then charged into the base, dragging the unconscious and captured Team Rocket forces with them. Delia and Ash's friends were the last to retreat into the base. As they retreated, they looked back and saw that Ash and Mia were not following them. "Come on!" she called over to them. "You have to get off the helipad!"

Ash and Mia heard them, but Mia replied, "You get inside. We have our own way off!"

Delia started to disagree, but a volley of energy fire from the chin guns of the helicopter, and seeing the determination of her children convinced her that they could handle themselves. She and the others then followed the Pokémon League forces back into the base, leaving Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon to deal with the helicopter. Once they were safely inside, Ash, Mia, Pikachu, Charizard, Tyranitar, and Venusaur faced down the helicopter, hoping to take it down before the pad collapsed.

Wanting to play it safer, though, Ash mounted Charizard and went to recall all of his other Pokémon, wanting them to be out of danger. As soon as he mounted Charizard, he told Pikachu and Charizard, "Attack the opening with your strongest attacks. We have to break down that Light Screen so we can attack the helicopter directly!"

The Pokémon responded by unleashing a massive Thunder attack, Fire Blast, and Solar Beam at the helicopter, respectively. Unfortunately, though, the Light Screen held against the assault. Mia, however, was studying the helicopter and was quick to notice its rear rotor. She quickly knelt down on the ground and found a discarded Super Scope, possibly one that she had taken from the base's security center. Crawling over to the bazooka-like weapon, she picked it up and prepared to target the helicopter. In order to distract the occupants, though, she called over to Tyranitar, "Tyranitar, use Stone Edge on the helicopter!"

Tyranitar complied and launched a barrage of stones at the helicopter, each of them striking the Reflect barrier, causing it to flare. However, the Pokémon's attention was directed towards reinforcing the barrier over the side of the helicopter, not near the rotors. She then focused the weapon towards the rear rotor, seeing it as still being vulnerable to fire, despite the armor. However, the shaking of the helipad was making it difficult to line up the shot. Still, she went for broke and pulled the trigger. It did not fire immediately, but a soft hum began to rise in pitch quickly for a single second before the weapon unleashed a massive yellow ball of plasma at the helicopter. The plasma ball scored a direct hit on the rear rotor, breaking through a weakened section of the Light Screen, which was already at the breaking point due to the constant barrage of attacks from Pikachu, Charizard, and Venusaur. It melted through the armor and melted the rear rotor.

The helicopter shook and Butch was thrown to the floor of the helicopter as it suddenly began to spin out of control. The Pokémon's concentration was broken and the helipad suddenly began to stop shaking and they had to focus on controlling the helicopter's spin. Kadabra's eyes glowed and the helicopter stopped its spin and began to turn back towards the pad, targeting Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon. Ash and Mia looked head on at the helicopter and could see Giovanni in the copilot's seat. In addition, the helipad began to shake again as Hypno used Psychic, though not as violently since it was only Hypno putting any energy into the attack, Kadabra being busy keeping the helicopter aloft. However, without Kadabra being able to raise any screens over the helicopter, Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon were free to open fire on it to take it down. While Ash might have wanted to be more merciful and offer Team Rocket a chance to surrender peacefully, Mia had no such restraint. She took the Super Scope and leveled it at the front of the helicopter. However, Giovanni had his finger on the trigger and was about to unleash a wave of missiles and energy fire on them when a missile streaked up towards the helicopter seemingly from nowhere. Everyone's eyes went wide as the missile rocketed up to the helicopter and slammed into the rear end of the vehicle, blowing off its rear half.

The helicopter began an uncontrolled spin as the explosion had hurled Kadabra, as well as the Rocket grunt and Cassidy, out of the helicopter and to the ground as they fell the eleven stories to the ground, screaming, smoke trailing their flaming bodies. The explosion had also wounded Hypno, who had just barely been able to use its psychic power to keep itself on the stricken helicopter. The wounded Pokémon tried to concentrate and focus its power so it could keep the spinning aircraft aloft and allow for a soft landing, but it was not to be. Initially, it was showing some signs of success as it was able to levitate the helicopter away from the landing pad, and flee away from the base and towards a small section of woods in the distance, but it would not last long, for Mia then fired a charged blast from her Super Scope, along with Pikachu, Charizard, Tyranitar, and Venusaur unleashing a hail of attacks at the helicopter as well. The attacks each struck the vehicle inflicting more damage and even managing to injure or kill some of the passengers.

As the helicopter shook from the impacts of the stones, and the passengers and crew were shocked by Pikachu's Thunderbolt, and the hull was being superheated by Charizard's Blast Burn, the end came for the helicopter and its occupants. The hull was beginning to warp and melt and the helicopter rotors were soon beginning to melt as well, no lo longer able to keep the craft aloft. Hypno attempted to pick up the slack, but was unable to keep it under control and aloft for long. As it was, after a few seconds, the helicopter began a semi-controlled descent. The descent soon became uncontrolled, though, as the Psychic-type Pokémon was unable to guide the vehicle anymore, having used up most of its power to try to bring down the helipad. Still, it did its best to give the occupants, those that were still alive, a chance to survive the crash and attempted to guide the helicopter away from the small section of woods before trying to set it down as softly as possible. It was not to be, though, for a few seconds later, Hypno's power gave out completely and the vehicle plummeted from the sky. It fell for a few seconds before crashed into a section of woods, the top of a tree piercing the weakened cockpit window as it fell. The helicopter then listed to the side and continued to fall until it struck the ground, crumpling its nose and shattering what was left of the glass. As it crashed, it skidded along the dirt ground as it rolled along, shredding itself, sending out dirt and debris in all directions. After skidding for a dozen meters or so, the hulk came to rest at the end of its artificial groove in the ground. Normal animals, birds, and Pokémon all fled the scene as the helicopter had crashed, leaving nothing but the crumpled remains of the vehicle, as well as the dead or dying passengers and crew. As it was, no one noticed a man with a smoking bazooka emerging from a denser part of the forest, staring at the downed helicopter as he shouldered his weapon and drew a pistol from a holster on the right side of his hip.

Back on the helipad, Ash dismounted Charizard and watched with his sister as the helicopter went down. Ash looked away from the scene after Hypno had finally given out, unable to watch as the vehicle crashed into the ground and shredded itself. Mia, however, was not nearly as squeamish about the demise of the helicopter, and likely those onboard as well. She watched as it fell below the tree line and listened as she heard the rending of metal and the clatter as it crashed in the woods not too far away. Turning to Ash, she said, "Come on. We have to go."

Ash looked back at her, puzzled. "Where?" he asked.

"To the helicopter's crash site. We have to confirm that Giovanni didn't escape."

"Why? No one could survive that crash. Besides, can't we just wait for Cynthia and the others and check it out with them."

"Don't assume anything!" Mia snapped. "It's our job to go there and make sure that it's finished. We can't wait for backup. We have to check the scene _now_, just in case he did survive and is making his escape."

Seeing that nothing he could say would dissuade her from morbidly examining the scene from end to end, he decided that it would be wise to back her up. Thinking about it some more, Mia did have a point. They did have to be sure that it was over. Besides, if by some miracle, there were survivors, then they could give them aid, even if they were Rockets.

Ash quickly went over to Charizard and told him, "You were awesome here. I wish I could tell you to take a rest, but we have to go and check out that helicopter crash not too far away." Moving in closer, he whispered into the dragon's ear, "Actually, my sister has to check out the crash. I could afford to wait for some backup."

"I heard that!" Mia called out to him, causing Ash to recoil a bit.

Charizard gave a sigh and then lowered himself, making it easier for the two teens to mount him. Mia was the first to board him, followed quickly by Ash and Pikachu. As they boarded the dragon, Mia recalled the rest of her Pokémon and clipped their balls to her belt. As soon as they were onboard, and all other Pokémon were safely recalled, Charizard lifted off from the pad. The group then went off in search of the helicopter crash.

On the roof of another section of the base, Aizen looked on, using his magical sight to watch the battle's outcome. He grimaced as the Lake Guardians had been defeated in battle, as had Latios and Latias. It was bad enough that the Legendaries had been so weak that they had been beaten by normal Pokémon. What made matters worse was that Mewtwo had not been drawn to this battle at all. Why would he come? His presence was not needed. Ash and Mia's Pokémon were already more than strong enough to deal with Team Rocket and their entire force of Legendary Pokémon. The only good thing he had managed to glean from various Rockets during the battle was the fact that before this unfortunate turn of events, the Rocket Brothers had gone to Cerulean Cave in Cerulean City in order to find more Legendaries to recruit to the cause. The Team Rocket Executives had heard rumors of the presence of a Mew, as well as an unknown Pokémon, in the cave. Knowing that he did not have any other leads at the moment, he decided that that would be the best bet for him. He then departed from the ruined base, teleporting to the outside of Cerulean Cave, along with Genesect's tube. Team Rocket, along with the Chosen Heroes Ash, Mia, May, Dawn, and Pikachu were of no further importance to him. In fact, as it turned out, they were never of any importance to his plans at all.

Had he remained for a few moments longer, he would have detected the arrival of Mewtwo above the scene. Mewtwo had managed to duck away from his parents during one of the beach concerts where some audience members had been invited onto the stage to sing and dance. Mew, in her human disguise, had been one of the partiers selected to go up on stage and perform. While she had been going on stage along with her mate, Mewtwo had teleported away from the scene and reappeared above Team Rocket's base, the location where he had sensed the congregation of Legendary Pokémon. Examining the scene, and telepathically scanning the interior of the base, he found that his concerns had actually been unfounded, for the Legendaries had been defeated by Ash and Mia Ketchum. He smiled at the mention of his one human friend, Ash, being a key component of Team Rocket's defeat. He was about to depart when he sensed a dark energy still emanate from areas inside the base. He decided to stick around for a few more moments to see if there was anything he missed before he would go back to Cerulean Cave to meditate and think.

Back at the helicopter crash site, John walked onto the scene, still wearing his black suit of body armor. He also had a Ray Gun holstered on the right side of his hip. He also wore gloves, so as to not leave any fingerprints on the weapons he was using. On the ground not too far away, he had laid his bazooka on the ground, the rocket launcher no longer being needed. Before heading to the crash scene, he studied his surroundings once more to make sure that no one was there looking in on the crash. No one could know that he was here. Scanning the surroundings, he saw the body of a Hypno lying face first in the ground. Going over to the Pokémon, he drew his side arm and held it on the Pokémon as he took out a scanner and scanned it, being careful to not look anywhere close to its face. The scanner came back negative, indicating that the Pokémon was dead. Looking around, he saw no more Pokémon and he then went back to the helicopter to examine the crash scene in more detail.

He walked over to the mangled and deformed helicopter and looked it over. The wreckage was still flaming and there were fluids leaking from various parts of the breaches in the helicopter's hull. Some of the flames were close to the vehicle, so he knew that he would have to be quick. Still, he smiled. With the dead Hypno, he had an alternative should his initial plan fail. Studying the wreck in more detail, he was surprised at how intact the vehicle was, considering the crash damage as well as the damage that had been inflicted by his missile. He went to the left side of the helicopter, knowing that the hatch had been open at the time of the helicopter's crash and stood at the entrance, peering inside. He saw the dead form of a Rocket agent lying face first on the metal floor. Taking out his scanner, he was not surprised to find the Rocket dead. He did not care that the scan identified the dead Rocket as being an officer named Butch.

After looking over the passenger area, he went over to the helicopter's cockpit. Once there, he looked through the now shattered window and looked in. The pilot's side of the helicopter was crumpled and he could see the body of the pilot not moving. It was clear from the way his head was facing that his neck was broken. He then went over to the passenger and saw that it was none other than Giovanni. He was about to take out his scanner to check on the Rocket Boss's condition when he heard a faint cough come from the man. His eyes went wide with surprise as he saw that Giovanni was still alive. However, according to the scan that he was now taking, the Rocket Boss would not remain so for long without medical attention. His mission had been to secure troops for the Subspace Army, as well as another leader for its forces, but he had a different plan in mind. As he went around to the right, Giovanni's head slowly followed him.

"Who…are…you?" Giovanni croaked.

John looked back at Giovanni and gave him a dark smile. "I'm the one who shot you down," he answered. "And the father of Ash and Mia Ketchum."

Giovanni's eyes went wide. "Red?"

"That was my codename once, long ago," John answered. "Just as Leaf is Mia's current codename. Now, I'm back to being John."

"But how? You disappeared. Why have you returned?"

"Ironically enough, to get you to join my master's army as a general in it, along with your Pokémon."

"I'll do it," Giovanni croaked as eagerly as possible. "I'll do anything, just get me out of here and save me."

"Actually, that's the reason I was sent here." It was then that John looked at him more darkly. "But my true purpose is to prevent you from joining the Subspace Army. To that end…you must die."

Giovanni's eyes flashed with fear as a loud pop could be heard. He never got the chance to hear the Ray Gun shot, though, for the energy burst killed him before the sound of the gun firing could reach his ears. John then went over to the rear of the broken helicopter and found a brown liquid leaking from it. He noticed a piece of flaming wreckage close to the liquid. He went over and kicked the piece of flaming wreckage over onto the puddle immediately igniting it. The flame followed the trail of fuel until it reached the helicopter's fuel tank. Once the fire reached the fuel tank, the tank exploded, engulfing the helicopter and everyone on it in flames.

As the flames were tracking back to the helicopter, John ran a safe distance away from the downed aircraft and waited for the fuel tank to explode and destroy the rest of the craft. He gave a satisfied smile as the helicopter was engulfed in flames. Team Rocket was finally destroyed. Even if Archer and the other Executives were still alive and out there, they did not have the charisma, connections, or the resources to be the threat that Giovanni was. Team Rocket's threat was now nothing more than a memory. Still, before departing and reporting back to his master that Team Rocket was no longer a viable force for joining the Subspace Army, he had one last thing to do.

He was about to go about his work when he heard a roar in the air. Looking up, he noticed a dragon flying overhead. Recognizing the dragon as a Charizard, the same type of Pokémon that he had started out with, he suspected that Ash and/or Mia were coming to investigate the helicopter crash. Wasting no time, he went over to his hoverbike and opened its cargo compartment. Reaching inside, he drew out a datapad. Turning it on, he checked to make sure that it was functioning properly. A red screen appeared, indicating that he did not have the proper code for searching the pad and reading the data on it. He gave a satisfied smile and then went back to the flaming helicopter. He went over to the rear passenger compartment and found that it was completely blown out, with Butch's body having been flung a ways away from the helicopter. Going over to it, he placed the datapad on the ground not far beyond Butch, making it look as if he had been carrying when the helicopter crashed and eventually exploded. He only hoped that Ash and/or Mia would realize that the datapad was important and read the data on it as quickly as possible.

Hearing Charizard approach, he realized that he had to leave as quickly as possible. He promptly went back to his hoverbike and mounted it. Starting its engine, he powered it up and once it was on, he rode away from the scene, praying that Ash and Mia would be the ones to pick the datapad.

Meanwhile, Charizard arrived at the crash site and went in for a closer look. He had been drawn to the scene by the smoke rising from the flaming wreckage, as well as the massive fireball that was generated when the helicopter finally exploded. He landed close to the burning helicopter. Upon landing, Ash and Mia quickly dismounted from the dragon, with Pikachu jumping off of his shoulder, and they headed over to examine the burning wreckage. As they scanned the helicopter, they found the burnt bodies of the pilot and Giovanni in the cockpit. They found two more bodies in the passenger area, which they figured were Butch and Cassidy, as well as the body of a Rocket a few meters away from the helicopter, not too far away from the dead Hypno. The teens figured that they had been thrown from the helicopter either during the crash or its eventual explosion.

As they were about to leave, though, and report that Giovanni was dead, something close to the fallen Rocket outside the helicopter caught their eye. They headed over to the fallen Rocket and noticed a datapad lying on the ground just a little beyond his reach. Without a word, Mia went over to check the datapad and saw that it was not currently activated. She knelt down and picked it up, examining it. Ash went over to her and asked, "What is it?"

"It's a datapad," she answered sarcastically.

"I can see that," Ash retorted. "Do you know what's on it?"

"Only one way to find out," Mia answered as she pushed the "on" button.

The datapad's screen came alive and a bright white light appeared on the screen. Soon, words appeared on the screen, along with a voice speaking, "DNA scan complete. Identification confirmed. Welcome Mia Ketchum."

Ash and Mia's eyes went wide with surprise as the datapad came alive and suddenly, folders and files appeared on the screen. One file quickly drew their attention as it was labeled, _Open this first_.

Mia placed the cursor over the file and opened it. The screen soon went blank and a hologram rose from the pad. Suddenly, the image of their father appeared before them, a kind smile framing his face. They noticed that he was wearing a black suit of what looked to be a weave of Kevlar C and spider silk. It was then that the hologram of their father began to speak.

"Hello Ash, Mia. I wish I could give you this message in person, but doing so would be too dangerous, for you and for me. Needless to say, there is a lot I wish I could tell you, but I'll have to give you the short version, instead. An army called the Subspace Army has taken an interest in you, as well as others on Earth." Images of various people and creatures soon appeared on the datapad's screen. "The images you see are of various people and creatures that are either a part of the Subspace Army or are potential recruits for the army. Data on these creatures, as well as other soldiers in the army, is available on this datapad. It details the strengths and weaknesses of the general of the Subspace Army, as well as those that are of interest to the Army. Not only that, but there is also information on other heroes that the Subspace Army is aware of on this pad." Images of various people appeared on the screen, including Ash and Mia's own faces. They also recognized May, Dawn, and Pikachu, along with Ash recognizing Mewtwo. After a second, John continued, "If you know or have made contact with any of these heroes, you must get this data to them. Everyone who is a hero must know about the threat that the Subspace Army poses. It is very powerful, but it has limited numbers. That is why it is recruiting as many troops and outside armies into its ranks as it is. However, it will not waste an opportunity to take out any heroes that might be a threat to it if it gets the chance. To do so, they will likely use the armies they either have recruited or are planning on recruiting in order to eliminate their targets. For you, that will likely be Team Rocket. I already know that the Subspace Army has been, and still is, sending weapons to Team Rocket."

The teens smiled as they knew that Team Rocket had been reduced to nothing more than a bad memory. Soon, John continued, "I wish I could talk with you in person. There is so much I want to tell you, and tell your mother. If she is not present here, do not tell her about what you have learned. I don't want her being put in any danger." He paused before continuing. "Before this message ends, there is one more thing you need to know. Ash, I know that you have become the new World Pokémon League Champion, something that the Subspace Army already knows. Not too long from now, they will likely give you, Mia, and your friends that are on this pad an invitation to attend and participate in the Super Smash Brothers Tournament. Don't go. It's a trap. It will be the final step in their plan against the universe, and the heroes that will be assembled in order to stop them." He then smiled and told them, "Good luck to all of you. I love you." With that, the message ended and the screen went blank once more before the files and folders reappeared on the screen.

As soon as the message ended, the teens looked down at the ground wistfully before departing the scene and going back to Charizard so they could return to Team Rocket Headquarters to assist in the clearing of the base. Mia stuffing the datapad into her backpack so that it would not be discovered and so that it would not be lost.

Just as they were departing the woods, and before they had mounted Charizard to return to the base, they saw the figures of Delia, May, Dawn, and Tracey rushing towards them, along with Ash's Pokémon. As soon as Delia arrived, she threw her arms around him, almost crying with joy that he was okay. "Ash! Mia!" she cried. "You're okay! We saw the helicopter explosion and saw Charizard headed towards it."

The two children returned their mother's hug and smiled as well. They continued to hug for a couple minutes before eventually disengaging. Once they were disengaged, Delia asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine Mom," Mia answered a little wistfully, still thinking about her father's message.

"We've confirmed that Giovanni is dead," Ash told her.

Delia and the others did not react for a bit. "We suspected as much," Delia answered. "Nevertheless, it's good to know for certain that his threat is gone."

The others quickly echoed her sentiments.

"So how did everything turn out?" Mia asked.

"Cynthia and the Pokémon League forces are scouring the base for any remaining Rockets and data that Team Rocket may have had that will be useful in prosecuting the survivors, as well as finding out who, if anyone, was supporting them," May answered.

"So, was anyone helping Team Rocket?" Mia asked.

"They don't know, yet," Tracey answered for the others. "But if I had to venture a guess, I would say that they did have some help. Those Ray Guns and some of their other weaponry isn't exactly standard issue for an organization that has solely relied on Pokémon in the past."

Delia and Dawn agreed. Ash and Mia glanced knowingly at one another, knowing Subspace Army had been funneling weapons to Team Rocket, possibly to draw the two of them out and gauge their skills in battle. Still, there was something about that that bothered them. Thinking about it for a moment, there was a feeling that if the Subspace Army was truly using Team Rocket with the intention of recruiting them at their full power, that they would have sent them more support, and have made certain that Team Rocket would have drawn out more Earth heroes, rather than just a few Pokémon Trainers and a particularly skilled Pikachu. With nothing more to do on the scene of the crash, markers were left at the scene so that the Pokémon League forces could find the site and conduct a further investigation, and the group headed back to Team Rocket Headquarters in order to finish the sweep of the base so they could return to the hotel and finish celebrating Ash and Mia's thirteenth birthday.

Not too far away, John watched the scene as Ash and Mia had examined the helicopter's wreckage. As they examined the scene, he prayed that they would go over to the fallen Rocket that was a ways away from the wreckage. He smiled as Mia headed over to the datapad and picked it up. He watched as they played the message and gave a wistful smile. He desperately wished that he could have talked with them in person, but he could not take the risk that Ganondorf was watching. He continued to watch as the message ended and Delia and Ash's friends came upon the scene. Now, more than ever, he wished that he could have spoken to them all directly, but he would not put them in such danger. He then watched as the group departed the scene and headed back to Team Rocket Headquarters. He took one last look at Team Rocket Headquarters as he saw a figure promptly vanish from the top of the base.

Meanwhile, over near Cerulean Cave, Mewtwo appeared outside the mouth of the cave. Outside, there were a large number of Pokémon fleeing the cave. As he neared the entrance, he sensed a dark power emanate from deep within the cave, right where he usually hung out. He gave a sigh and entered the cave, keeping his guard up so that he would not be detected, and so that he would not fall into any traps that the intruder may have planted.

As he made his way into the cave, he noticed that it was completely deserted, likely due to whatever was emanating the dark power. As he focused on the power, though, he could not help but notice that it was familiar to him, somehow.

Eventually, he made it into the deepest part of the cave, coming right up to the shore of the lake that contained the island where he made his residence. "So you've come back home at last," he heard a menacing voice speak.

Looking out into the darkness, he saw the silver glint of metal from the little light that was inside the cave. The sound of a sword leaving its scabbard echoed throughout the cavern and he saw a golden glint of metal as the sword was drawn. The sword glowed and the light allowed Mewtwo to get a good look at the figure. He was tall, even more so that Mewtwo. He was covered in golden plate armor that looked like it was a part of him, rather than merely armor. However, the figure also had a gray vest over top of the breastplate of the armor. It had a red R, which was the mark of the figure being a part of Team Rocket. Beneath the helmet, the figure had short brown hair, and red eyes. The psychic cat-like Pokémon was also able to see the knight's ears, which were long and pointed. He also saw a large tube sitting next to the Magic Lord. Mewtwo was easily able to sense that the dark power was emanating from the figure, but it was clear that the power was not psychic. "Who are you?" Mewtwo asked. "And what are you doing here?"

His questions drew a dark chuckle from the figure. "Who am I?" the figure retorted. "You'll figure it out soon enough. As for what I'm doing here, I'm getting revenge."

"Revenge?" Mewtwo echoed in question. "For who?"

"For my children, Aglara and Aramon," the figure roared.

Mewtwo's eyes flashed in recognition at the names. "You murdered them!" Aizen roared.

"No," Mewtwo countered, shaking his head. "Aglara and Aramon attacked the Earth, and us. Samus and I had no choice but to fight them. Besides, Aglara survived the battle, albeit wounded." He then scanned the figure again. He could clearly sense the power of Aglara flowing through the figure. "But it seems as if she did not survive her report back to you. What father would kill his own daughter just to obtain her power?" he asked, not bothering to hide the disgust in his voice.

"It is the way of my people," the figure boomed. "The Magic Lord way. It was necessary in order to preserve her power, and her knowledge."

"Then your issue isn't the fact that Aglara and Aramon died; it's the fact that a being other than a Magic Lord actually killed them."

"Correct," Aizen admitted. "And that is why you must die!"

"And what are you doing with a Team Rocket uniform on?"

The figure laughed. "Team Rocket was nothing more than a tool; one that did not accomplish what I hoped it wound; drawing you out into the open so we could battle."

"Well you've found me," Mewtwo stated. "You have accomplished what you desired."

"Not yet," Aizen stated confidently. "I will have only accomplished my objective when you lie dead at my feet!" He then threw off the uniform, revealing the full majesty of his ornate gold armor. On his breastplate were six Poké Balls. "You wanted to know who I am? I am Aizen, the oldest and strongest of the remaining Elvanheim, what you, the humans and their allies call Magic Lords!" the newly revealed Magic Lord proclaimed. "And I am your death!"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

Mewtwo assumed a fighter's stance as he scanned his surroundings to make sure that no one would be caught in the fighting. He then turned his focus to Aizen, performing a cursory scan in order to glean the true power of the Magic Lord. While he had experience fighting Magic Lords before, having fought against Aglara and Aramon, with neither of them being all that difficult for him to defeat on their own, he strongly suspected that Aizen was stronger than the both of them put together. However, his scan hit a mental wall as barriers quickly rose in the Magic Lord's mind, shutting him out. What happened next, greatly surprised Mewtwo. Aizen then went to scan the cat-like psychic Pokémon's mind, forcing Mewtwo to erect a mental barrier of his own. His eyes glowed as he erected the barrier and went to try to scan the Magic Lord's mind again, trying to force Aizen to force the Magic Lord back on defense. His attempt was only partially successful as he Aizen continued to use his magic to try to pierce Mewtwo's defenses, while reinforcing his own. Still, Mewtwo's psychic defenses were too great for the Magic Lord to pierce, with none of the barriers falling, though one did sustain some damage. The two then stared at one another, trying to gauge the other's true power.

"I must say that your mental defenses are strong," Aizen admitted. "Still, that means nothing in the grand scheme of things with respect to our powers. Mental defenses are not only psychic or magical, but also spiritual."

"Psychic powers also have a spiritual component to them," Mewtwo replied.

"It still means nothing. I _know_ that I am stronger than you!" he roared. "And I will prove it by killing you!"

Mewtwo made no response as he lifted himself into the air and formed a barrier over his body. Aizen gave a cocky grin and drew his golden broadsword. The sword glowed as he pointed it up into the sky. Suddenly, a lightning bolt seemingly came down from the ceiling and the sword became electrified and began to glow. He swiped the sword towards Mewtwo and a blast of energy erupted from the sword. The energy bolt struck Mewtwo's shield but inflicted no damage. Mewtwo had a feeling that that attack was not all that serious, though, and that Aizen was merely trying to gauge his strength. His suspicion was soon confirmed when Aizen rushed towards him and jumped into the air, trying to bring the sword down upon his energy shield. Aizen thrust his sword downward and the blade hit the shield, which flared a few feet away from the body of the psychic cat-like Pokémon.

Aizen continued to push down on the blade in an attempt to breach the shield but met with little success. His cocky expression soon vanished and became more strained as he struggled to breach Mewtwo's energy shield. He gritted his teeth and began to grunt as he continued to make little to no headway. Mewtwo simply remained still, descending a bit until he softly reached the ground, content to let Aizen waste energy against his shield. He, too, wanted to gauge Aizen's power and ability, since he had a feeling that Aizen was stronger than either Aglara or Aramon, and possibly stronger than both combined. Neither Aglara nor Aramon had been a match for him when he was at full strength, but he did not want to take any chances with Aizen. They had merely been youths, but from what he remembered of the scans taken, they had been strong for their age. Since Aizen was their father, then it was also likely that he was stronger than a normal Magic Lord, too.

Eventually, Aizen realized that his sword would not be able to breach Mewtwo's shield on its own. Chanting an alien spell, an electrical field soon surrounded the blade and it began to make more headway against Mewtwo's shield, breaking through and slowly making its way towards Mewtwo's head. Mewtwo grimaced and tightened up his shield, the electrified sword stopping in its tracks. "That's a magical version of PSI Thunder," Mewtwo noted.

Aizen grinned. "So you're familiar with such attacks," he came back. "Did you learn of it from Aglara?"

Mewtwo nodded.

"I'm a lot stronger than my daughter," Aizen warned. "I won't be so easy to kill."

Still, as Aizen forced more electricity into the blade, it still would not move for him. Eventually, he saw no choice but to pull the blade back and jump away. He vaulted into the air and performed a back flip, landing with more grace than a gymnast ten meters away from the psychic bipedal cat-like Pokémon. Glaring at Mewtwo, he sheathed the sword and took a different approach.

Electricity soon crackled around his fingertips and he extended his hands towards the psychic Pokémon. Streaks of lightning erupted from his hands and lashed out at the bipedal psychic cat. The bolts of lightning struck Mewtwo's shield, causing it to flare an electric blue as the lightning arced across it, but the shield refused to fail. Aizen soon grimaced. "It looks like you've improved since your battle against my children," he called, trying to stroke Mewtwo's ego so he would become more cocky and arrogant, hopefully causing him to fight foolishly and thus, giving Aizen an opening where he could kill him.

Mewtwo did not take the bait, though, and simply retaliated by extending his paws forward, blue waves of energy forming around them. He launched the waves at Aizen, forcing him to raise a rudimentary shield over himself. The energy waves collided with his shield, causing it to flare an emerald green for a second before they collapsed and the rest of the waves scored direct hits on his body and armor. He grunted with the hit as the energy waves exploded, covering him in a cloud of smoke. The force of the explosion tossed him from the smoke cloud, smoke still trailing his body as if he were a stricken jet that had been shot down by a missile, and he collided with the ground a dozen meters away or so, skidding a few more meters before coming to a halt. He slowly rose, his expression showing he was more angry than hurt.

He did not let Mewtwo's counterattack get him down, though. He soon extended his hands and pink balls of energy formed in front of his palms. He then thrust his hands forward and the swirling pink balls of energy rocketed towards Mewtwo. The psychic Pokémon then disappeared from sight, allowing the balls to pass through empty space. Aizen began to sweat as he frantically looked around to see where Mewtwo would reappear. He soon felt a massive weight hit him in the back as he felt Mewtwo's Psystrike make contact with him once again. He gave a cry of pain as he took the hit and was shoved forward. He hit the ground face first but quickly recovered, slamming his hands to the surface of the arena and pushing off. Turning around, he performed a flip and landed on two feet, facing Mewtwo once more.

This time, though, he had a different idea. He raised his shield once more, pumping even more energy into it than he had the first one, and he drew his sword. As he drew his sword, he held it high in the air and began to chant a spell. Mewtwo kept his distance, knowing that Aizen was a skilled swordfighter and that any close combat engagement would likely end badly for him. Still, Aizen had shown himself to not be nearly as strong as he had dreaded. He had not had to use his full power against the Magic Lord and he was still winning. Still, he was suspicious that Aizen may have been holding back, for he was having no more difficulty against him than he had against Aglara and Aramon. This could not be all there was to Aizen's power, not if he had any hope of beating the psychic cat.

Aizen's chanting soon finished thrust his sword into the ground. Immediately, jets of magical water burst from the ground around Mewtwo and flew up to the cave's ceiling, where they quickly expanded and spread out, forming a wall. Mewtwo fired an Aura Sphere at the wall of water to blast it down, only to find the sphere touch an electrical field in the water, dispersing the attack. He grimaced. Aizen was skilled, and he was showing a lot more power and imagination than before. That was when Mewtwo started to smile. He was finally getting a glimpse of Aizen's true power. The wall of water and electricity closed off any normal means of escape and began to close in on him. Mewtwo simply closed his eyes and used his telepathy to lock onto Aizen's location on the island at the center of the lake. As he did so, the water prison began to close in on the psychic Pokémon.

Mewtwo immediately vanished from the prison just as it converged in on itself and burst forth in a magnificent display of water and lightning. Aizen smiled as he felt Mewtwo's presence disappear for a moment. His smile vanished, though, when he found himself hurtling through the air, landing hard on the ground two-dozen meters away from his launch point. As he rose, he quickly saw several more blue energy waves converge on him. He swore and covered his face as his shields took the first of the impacts, but quickly fell, leaving him vulnerable to the rest. With each subsequent hit, he was knocked backwards, grunting with each blow. He staggered backwards and fell to the ground. He could sense the power in the Psystrike and knew that if it had struck the Earth uncontrolled, that it would have at the very least leveled a couple of continents, if not cracked the crust of the planet and possibly even split it in two. He had known that Mewtwo had been powerful, but this power took him completely off guard. He looked up and saw Mewtwo floating in the air, staring down at him, his eyes glowing. Mewtwo had sustained no damage in the fight at all, so far, and he was already using his healing spell for the second time. It was the first time that he had ever truly felt fear for his own life. How could Mewtwo be so powerful? Could he have possibly underestimated Mewtwo's strength so drastically?

He slowly rose and realized that he had no real choice. He would have to change the rules a bit if he wanted to have any hope of winning. To that end, he chanted another spell. Mewtwo reinforced his shield, not using Calm Mind. He did not want to use that technique unless it was absolutely necessary. Still, as he faced down Aizen, he was beginning to wonder if the Magic Lords' reputation was greatly inflated. There was no way he could ever see someone like Aizen ever truly being a threat to a world on his own; not if this was all there was to his power. He then shook off the thought. Aglara and Aramon were dangerous enough on their own, despite merely being youths. There was no way that Aizen would not be noticeably stronger then them.

Aizen, however, did not seem to be all that concerned yet. He still had options. The Magic Lord gave a confident grin as five Poké Balls emerged from his belt, rising into the air and growing in size until they were slightly larger than baseballs. Aizen then slammed his hand down on the ground, yelling, "Summoning!"

Immediately, a large tube that looked like it was large enough to contain a Pokémon appeared next to him below his floating Poké Balls. He then chanted a spell and purple waves of energy appeared in the air and surrounded the tube. After a second, they flowed into the tube and a dark violet glow could be seen from inside. The tube then opened, releasing an icy mist as the atmospheric seals were broken and the glass casing rose into the air. After another second, the first of Aizen's six Legendary Pokémon rose from the tube. Mewtwo scowled as he recognized the Pokémon as Genesect, a bipedal bug-like Pokémon with a purple metal body and a saucer-shaped head with two large red eyes. The body was thin but it looked to be quite strong. Strapped to its back was a massive cannon with a blue light on top. The Pokémon that had been developed by Team Plasma but had never been officially used because of N's objections. Soon, the other five Poké Balls opened and let out Aizen's remaining Pokémon onto the battlefield. The first Pokémon to emerge was Meloetta, a feminine anthropomorphic figure with music bar-style streaks in its hair, which was green and flowing, resembling sheet music. It also had quarter notes for arms and hands. It had large blue eyes and a jewel of the same color in the middle of its forehead. It also had a rabbit-shaped headpiece that looked to be a microphone of some sort. Its face and legs were white while it had a black torso with a green midriff that matched its hair color. Next onto the field were Darkrai, a black ghostly Dark-type Pokémon with two arms and long white billowing ghostly hair, long arms, with hands that had clawed fingers; and Cresselia, a swan-like Pokémon with a blue body, a yellow underside, and two magenta tufts that form an arc across her chest. Cresselia also had pink ring-like wings on her side and back, along with two crescent moon-like ornaments on the sides of her head. The final two Pokémon were Jirachi and Victini. Jirachi was a small, white humanoid-looking Pokémon with short, stubby arms and legs. There was a third seam on its belly that looked like it was a closed eye. It also wore a yellow headdress that slightly resembled a star with three tags at the ends of the points. It also had two yellow streamers trailing it on its back that looked like the tail of a comet. As for Victini, it was a small, rodent-like Pokémon with cream colored fur, large round blue eyes, large ears that formed a V, and two wings in the back.

As the Pokémon emerged, they arrayed themselves before Aizen to square off against Mewtwo. Aizen gave an arrogant smirk as his army stared at Mewtwo. "How do you like these odds Mewtwo?"

Mewtwo gave a confident smile. Aizen must not have learned much about him, for if he had, he would have realized that despite these Pokémon being Legendary Pokémon, they were far from being his equals. Even fighting together, he still had the advantage. Indeed, the one that had a type advantage against him was also weak to one of his favorite techniques. He quickly returned his expression to neutral, not wanting Aizen to realize that he may have just made a tremendous mistake. Still, the confident Pokémon looked to be spoiling for a fight.

Mewtwo looked on and steeled himself for the impending assault. He quickly opened his psychic senses to make sure that there were no surprises waiting for him. As he did so, he immediately sensed another presence watching from a distance. He could not scan any further to deduce the power of the new onlooker without revealing to both he newcomer and Aizen that he was holding back a significant portion of his power, but he had a feeling that the newcomer was quite powerful and would make for a difficult opponent should he wish to fight the Psychic cat-like Pokémon. For an instant, though, he thought that he could get a reading and that there was something different about the new watcher, something exceedingly powerful and that needed a certain weapon in order to neutralize, but that with that weapon, the onlooker's power, particularly against the weapon's wielder, would be greatly reduced. He also got a sense of darkness surrounding him as well and he realized that this battle was going to be a lot more difficult than he initially imagined, for he did not want to reveal his own power level to this new observer. He quickly cut off the scan and refocused back on Aizen, keeping the presence of the new figure in the back of his mind, but guarding his thoughts so that they would not be picked up on by either Aizen, or this new presence.

As for Aizen, he had no idea that another had come to the battlefield and was watching their battle with keen interest. He only cared about killing Mewtwo once and for all. He soon drew his sword, which not glowed with a bright golden light, and pointed it high into the sky. "Troopers ready!" he cried over the field.

The Pokémon all turned back and nodded in affirmation.

He then brought down his sword and cried, "Attack!"

Darkrai was the first to attack, powering a black orb in his right hand as Aizen yelled, "Darkrai, use Dark Void!"

Mewtwo grinned as Aizen gave his Pokémon the order, letting him know what attack was going to be use, allowing him to prepare for it. Darkrai powered the Dark Void and quickly launched it towards Mewtwo, but the Psychic-type Pokémon had already disappeared. Mewtwo reappeared directly in front of Darkrai, an Aura Sphere already powered in his right hand. Darkrai quickly unleashed another Dark Void just as Mewtwo shot his Aura Sphere at the Dark-type Legendary at point blank range. Both attacks hit their mark, with Darkrai being knocked unconscious by the single blue swirling sphere of energy, and the dark orb of energy phasing through Mewtwo's shield and striking the Pokémon, engulfing him in a pink bubble. The bubble surrounded Mewtwo and the Psychic-type Pokémon had to concentrate in order to remain awake. In the process, his shield fell.

Aizen took advantage of Mewtwo's shield failing and immediately appeared in front of Mewtwo, his golden sword drawn, and thrust the glowing blade towards Mewtwo. However, before the blade could reach him, the psychic cat-like Pokémon disappeared and reappeared right behind the Magic Lord. He formed a psychic energy blade in his hand and thrust it at the elf-like warrior. Now it was Aizen's turn to vanish and return behind his Pokémon forces.

After Aizen left the battlefield, Cresselia, Victini, Jirachi, Genesect, and Meloetta all appeared in front of Mewtwo, the Psychic-type Pokémon's eyes glowing as they used Psychic to try to attack his mind. Aizen also joined in on the attack, too. Mewtwo's telepathic defenses were too strong for them, though, and they failed to breach even one layer of his mental defenses. However, as they were attacking him, though, Genesect moved behind him and attacked by using Bug Buzz. Red waves of energy erupted from Genesect and lashed out at the cat-like Pokémon. Mewtwo, however, had anticipated Genesect's plan of attack and raised his shield once more. The shield reflected the attack back at Genesect, who made no attempt to avoid it. The supposedly prehistoric Pokémon did not sustain a great deal of damage since its Steel typing resisted Bug-type damage. It _would_, however, sustain a great deal of damage from the subsequent Fire Blast that Mewtwo unleashed upon it. Mewtwo extended his hand behind him and unleashed a massive blast of fire in the shape of a human stick figure. Genesect was too slow to evade it and suffered a direct hit. Being a Bug/Steel dual type Pokémon, it suffered four times the normal damage that would have been inflicted by Mewtwo's Fire Blast. The single blast of flame was more than enough to take it down. Now, all he had to do was finish off the other four Legendaries, something that would not be difficult at all.

The other four Pokémon quickly realized that they were in trouble with the two Pokémon that sported type advantages against Mewtwo already having been taken out of the fight and went for broke as they simply powered their most powerful attacks and unleashed them upon the Psychic-type Pokémon. Blue waves of psychic energy and a V Create attack all erupted towards the bipedal psychic cat. Mewtwo was not concerned, though, and kept his attention focused on Aizen, knowing him to be the greater threat. The attacks splashed against his shield and were rebounded back to the enemy Pokémon, knocking them backwards. Meanwhile, Victini charged at him with V-create, a move where Victini's ears were surrounded by a powerful fire and its eyes began to glow. The rodent-like Pokémon then surged towards Mewtwo and collided with psychic bipedal cat's shields, creating a massive explosion. The explosion threw up a cloud of smoke that obscured the two Pokémon for a while. Eventually, though, the cloud of smoke vanished and Mewtwo was revealed to have not suffered any damage at all. In fact, his shield had not even been breached. Mewtwo then fired a single Shadow Ball at Victini, which scored a direct hit on the rodent. The strike forced the Pokémon backwards and he flew to the edge of the island, hitting the ground and eventually skidding to a halt before sliding into the water. Despite taking a super effective hit, though, Victini was still able to fight and rose to attack using V-create once more. Mewtwo gave a sigh and quickly finished it off with a single Psystrike attack before it even travel two feet, knocking the Psychic/Fire-type Pokémon backwards. The Pokémon flew across the cavern, cracking a wall on the shore upon impact, and sliding to the ground, unconscious.

As he was dealing with Victini, though, Meloetta, realizing that she was no match for Mewtwo in a direct fight, formulated a plan that she hoped would be successful in taking him down. She first tried to put him to sleep using Relic Song, despite the fact that the song only had a ten percent chance of putting its target to sleep. She did not want to risk Sing putting her remaining allies to sleep with Mewtwo potentially remaining unaffected. In addition, Relic Song would also have the effect of transforming her into her Pirouette Forme, which, while Normal/Fighting-type and, thus, making her far more vulnerable to Mewtwo's Psystrike, she thought that the tradeoff of having superior attack speed would be worth it. As she sang Relic Song, she quickly transformed into her Pirouette Forme, which caused her green hair to turn red and curl into a bun. Her eyes and midriff also turned red. She could feel her speed increase as well and, seeing that Mewtwo was still awake, knew that her original plan had failed. However, her backup plan was still in play. She gave a melancholy sigh and then attacked Mewtwo by singing Perish Song, knowing full well that her allies would also be affected by the song. It would not matter, though, since it was the only way she knew of that she might be able to affect Mewtwo and taking down Mewtwo was far more important than the safety of her allies. Besides, it would only render her, her allies, and Mewtwo unconscious, allowing for Aizen to finish him off and hopefully for him to heal her and the others.

Her beautiful voice enthralled all the other conscious Pokémon, save for Victini, who was in the process of being beaten by Mewtwo, and they simply floated there, doing nothing as she sang. The only problem with Meloetta's plan was that Mewtwo hated singing with a passion. He did not give her a chance to finish the song before he flattened her into the ground, causing her to more closely resemble a pancake than a Pokémon. Her pancaked form writhed as she groaned after she fainted, swirls appearing in her eyes. It was now that Meloetta realized the gaping flaw in her plan, not that it would have mattered since Mewtwo would have been powerful enough to flatten her with a single telekinetic blast even if she had remained in her Aria Forme, which was Normal/Psychic type. Mewtwo then lifted her flattened form into the air, reconstituted back to normal, and tossed her unconscious body over to the unconscious form of Victini.

Jirachi and Cresselia's eyes went wide as they quickly realized that they were the only two Pokémon left to deal with Mewtwo, and that they were no match for him. They each gulped as they turned to one another and nodded. They then turned to face Mewtwo and performed one last desperate attack. They each powered a last ditch Psychic attack and launched it at Mewtwo. Blue waves of psychic energy lashed out at Mewtwo, striking his shield but barely causing it to glow. The attacks were not rebounded by Mewtwo's shield, but that gave them little comfort, though, as the psychic cat powered two Shadow Balls, one in each hand. Targeting each of the psychic Pokémon, he fired the dark purple orbs of shadowy energy. Being Psychic in type, they were both vulnerable to the Ghost-type energy ball. However, due to Jirachi's part Steel-typing, it would only suffer normal damage while Cresselia would suffer twice the normal damage from the attacks. The speed at which the orbs traveled was also amazing, leaving no time for the Pokémon to attempt to dodge. Jirachi's part Steel-typing would not come into play at all, for both Shadow Balls were more than strong enough to fell each Pokémon with one hit, rendering them both unconscious. In an all too short period of time, all six of Aizen's Legendary Pokémon had been defeated. It was a one-on-one battle once more. However, he had not been idle while Mewtwo had been beating on his Pokémon, for he had never actually expected his Pokémon to be able to defeat Mewtwo, or even cause him any significant damage. They were nothing more than disposable assets to stall for time while he put his full plan into motion.

While Mewtwo was dealing with Aizen's Legendary Pokémon, the Magic Lord, himself, had been casting a power up spell on himself all throughout the battle. It was similar to the secondary effects of Ancient Power, only it also greatly increased his health, as well as greatly raising all of his stats. He was faster, stronger, both on offense and defense, and had more health and magic than before. While before, he was no match for Mewtwo; now, he may well have been able to match the psychic, especially since he managed to negate his weakness to psychic powers when he absorbed his daughter's essence just before she would have succumbed to her wounds. There was only one thing he needed to do to tip the scales even more in his favor.

As Mewtwo was finishing his battle against the Legendary Pokémon, Aizen gave a false humph and called out to Mewtwo, "You've done well to defeat those six Pokémon so quickly. However, don't think that I'll be so easy to defeat."

"I'm giving you this one chance Aizen. Stop this battle now and leave planet Earth. Your revenge is not worth your dying."

Mewtwo's offer took Aizen off guard at first, but after a moment, it merely made the Magic Lord laugh. "Elvanheim never run away from a fight!"

"Maybe that's why you're working in the shadows rather than striking at Earth and your enemies directly," Mewtwo countered darkly. "Really. You're working with Team Rocket, a criminal organization of mortals who use Pokémon because they can scarcely afford actual military-grade equipment. You even passed yourself off as a member of the organization and were subservient to its mortal leader. Why? If you were as strong as you seem to boast, and think, you would have already destroyed your enemies without having to resort to deception and using pawns to do _your_ dirty work, as evidenced by the way you used your Pokémon just now. I know that you merely used them so you could power yourself up."

His statement struck took Aizen aback. The Magic Lord was shocked that Mewtwo had basically called out him and his people. And yet the cat-like Pokémon was right. All this time, the Magic Lords were working behind the scenes to accomplish their goals, rather than directly taking the fight to their enemies, as they had done before the disastrous defeat at the hands of the Chozo Alliance, and later, the destruction of the Dark Dragon. Aizen began to seethe. He clenched his fists so tightly that he thought his gloves would break and glared at the Pokémon. "You want to see my real power?" he yelled. "You want to see an Elvanheim unleashed? Fine! I'll show you my true power! Try this!"

Aizen charged directly at the psychic Pokémon, almost instantly appearing before him, holding his sword with both hands, ready to thrust it into Mewtwo's head. Mewtwo's eyes went wide with surprise as the Magic Lord appeared directly in front of him, sadistic grin twisting Aizen's lips as he thrust his sword towards his cat-like enemy. A green energy field surrounded the sword and it instantly breached Mewtwo's shield, surprising Mewtwo once more, and kept on going, heading directly towards Mewtwo's left eye. When the sword was a micrometer away from the cat's eye, Mewtwo vanished. As soon as the psychic cat had vanished, Aizen disappeared as well.

Mewtwo reappeared directly behind where Aizen had been and generated a blue blade of psychic energy. He had intended to thrust the blade forward, but the Magic Lord had already disappeared. Mewtwo then vanished once more, prompting Aizen to reverse his grip on the blade and thrust it backwards. However, he struck at nothing but air, for Mewtwo had, instead, teleported into the air several feet above him. The Psychic-type Pokémon quickly powered a Psystrike attack and launched a series of deadly energy waves directly at the Magic Lord. Aizen raised an energy shield and extended it out from his hand, allowing the waves of energy to strike it. The shield flared with each strike but it did not buckle or break. Mewtwo's expression did not change, though, and soon, he fired an Aura Sphere at the Magic Lord.

Aizen sliced the blue energy ball in half when it was about to hit, causing the two halves to explode well away from the Magic Lord, and grinned at the psychic Pokémon. "Not so strong now, are you?" he taunted.

Mewtwo did not give in to his taunt, though, and disappeared from sight just as a magnificent stream of flame lashed out at the space that he had occupied mere moments earlier. Aizen grimaced as Mewtwo avoided his attack. Scanning the cave's ceiling and ground, he quickly found Mewtwo reappear directly behind him, preparing another Psystrike. Aizen grinned and green energy waves and balls materialized around him. "Time to die!" he cried at the top of his voice as he unleashed the vicious volley of energy Mewtwo's way. Mewtwo fired his Psystrike an instant later and the volley of energy waves and balls collided with each other in midair, stopping the other's momentum in an instant. Aizen pushed more energy into his attack but it did not budge Mewtwo's own attack. He tried to cast another power up spell, but he suddenly found it difficult to concentrate. _Darn it! That psychic's in my mind_, he seethed, suddenly realizing that despite his enhanced defenses against mental attacks, he was far from immune to them.

He then focused all of his mental power towards dislodging Mewtwo's foothold in his mind. However, doing so proved to be far more difficult than he imagined, for it seemed as if Mewtwo's telepathy was also able to jam his own telepathy. As such, he continued to cast his power up spell, increasing his power even more, as well as his resistance to Mewtwo's telepathy, eventually gaining enough power to dislodge Mewtwo's foothold in his mind. Wasting no time, he then pushed more energy into his energy attack and it was beginning to have an effect, pushing back Mewtwo's Psystrike. However, Mewtwo was not going to sit back and let Aizen take control of the battle. He, too, pushed more energy into his attack, pushing back against the onrushing blob of energy as all of Aizen's energy waves coagulated into a single blob of energy in order to resist Mewtwo's psychic energy waves. The blob of energy was too much for Mewtwo, though, and it consumed the energy waves that the psychic Pokémon had generated and rocketed towards the Pokémon. Mewtwo was far from beaten, though.

He quickly powered a second Psystrike with which to protect himself against Aizen's magical wave. This one was different from the first, though. Instead of merely being a series of energy waves, it was one relatively large wave of energy similar to a Surf attack, but was much more confined and focused. He targeted the wave directly at the center of the magical blob that Aizen had generated. As soon as it collided with the energy blob, the blob's speed slowed as Mewtwo's new Psystrike made contact with it and began to push against it. The green blob soon came to a halt and began moving back towards Aizen, causing the Magic Lord's eyes to go wide with surprise and fear. How was this possible? Only a second ago, he had had Mewtwo on the ropes. He could not conceive of how the psychic cat had generated an attack to match and even exceed his own.

To counter Mewtwo's new Psystrike he added more energy to his blob and began to push back against Mewtwo's attack. However, all he managed to do was stop the blob of energy from being pushed back to him. It remained suspended between the two combatants. He tried to push more power into the attack, only to realize that Mewtwo was launching another telepathic attack on his mind. He was ready for such a ploy this time and he steeled his mind against the attack, not allowing Mewtwo to gain entry. However, Mewtwo had other plans, for just as he had launched the attack, he added more energy to his Psystrike, pushing against Aizen's attack, in addition to keeping pressure on Aizen's mind so that he would have to concentrate on two things at once. Once more, the massive ball of energy began heading Aizen's way. The Magic Lord tried to concentrate so he could add more energy to the attack, but his energy reserves were beginning to wane. He knew that he would have to end this battle quickly or Mewtwo would win simply by outlasting him. He studied Mewtwo and tried to come up with a strategy for defeating the Psychic-type Super Legendary Pokémon. A plan soon formed in his mind and he grinned to himself. He had him. There was no way Mewtwo would worm his way out of this.

He feigned continuing to struggle against Mewtwo's Psystrike while covertly watching for an opening where he could safely strike. He soon found what looked to be an opening as Mewtwo pushed more energy into his Psystrike and was about to teleport to Mewtwo and attack when he heard felt the appearance of arrival of another Pokémon. Judging by the look in Mewtwo's eyes, he also sensed the new arrival. His eyes flashed. This was his chance. Forget his previous plan. This was the golden opportunity!

He pushed more energy into his magical ball and fired it at Mewtwo. Mewtwo grimaced and was about to respond by pushing more energy into his Psystrike when a series of blue psychic waves of energy collided with the two attacks and caused them to explode in a tremendous display of light and sound. Both Aizen and Mewtwo reinforced their shields to ensure that they did not take any damage from the resulting blast. As for the explosion, it was felt throughout the entire cave. Stalactites fell from the ceiling of the cave and the ground shook. The ground cracked and rocks fell from the ceiling. Large waves from the lake lashed out at the shore, extending far beyond the normal banks before receding.

Both combatants looked up and saw a much smaller cat-like Pokémon floating above the battlefield. Mewtwo grimaced and gave a dark shrug as he recognized the new arrival as his mother. Mew looked to be less than pleased at the sight of Mewtwo fighting. "So _this_ is where you went and what you wanted to do," she pouted. "You choose to fight some guy over having fun with your father and I."

"We can continue this later, Mother," Mewtwo called over to Mew. "I have to finish this first."

Mew gave a growl as Mewtwo formed two psychic blades of energy from his wrists. Aizen, however, merely grinned. "Mother?" he said, gazing sadistically, and even a little lecherously at Mew. He then gave a foreboding chuckle. Mew, however, would not hear any of it from Mewtwo.

"Don't talk back to me like that, Mewtwo," she yelled. "Why is it that you always have to spend your time in dark places and picking fights with anyone who crosses eyes with you? Can't you just live a nice, relaxing life like your father and me?"

"I'm a little busy right now!" Mewtwo cried as he dodged a blast of magical energy that Aizen had cast, hoping to take advantage of the situation. Still, Mewtwo was focusing as much of his attention on his mother as he was on his opponent. Aizen's eyes flashed. This was his chance, his one true chance to kill Mewtwo once and for all. He quickly unleashed a bolt of magical lightning on the distracted psychic Pokémon. Less than a second from being fired, the lightning struck Mewtwo and arced across his body, followed quickly by the green ball of energy. The ball of energy hit Mewtwo engulfing the psychic Pokémon in an orb of emerald green energy. Aizen cackled maniacally as he watched the explosion, feeling Mewtwo's life energy fade and eventually vanish entirely.

After a several seconds, the green orb of energy vanished and no trace of Mewtwo could be found. Aizen used his magic to scan for Mewtwo once more, just to make sure that the Psychic-type Pokémon was not hiding his presence, but could neither sense, nor see, anything. He also could not hear anything that resembled movement or the pop of a teleportation. He began to allow himself to hope that he had finally killed Mewtwo. Still, he would take precautions. He continued to focus his magical senses around the entire area in order to make absolutely sure that Mewtwo was dead. Eventually, he could not see, hear, or sense anything other than himself in the entire area. There were also no residual psychic signatures that would indicate an emergency teleportation, either. Finally, Mewtwo was dead.

Mew, who had been watching the fight, but had stayed back for fear of getting in her son's way, gasped as Aizen's magical ball destroyed Mewtwo. "No!" she cried. "Mewtwo!"

"Give it up, kitty," Aizen gloated as he floated up to Mew. "The mon's dead. And soon, you will be, too." He then drew his sword and went to attack Mew, lowering his guard, figuring that Mew was no threat to him at all. Just as he was about to attack, though, blue blade of psychic energy pieced him through the heart from behind. His eyes went wide with pain as he reflexively opened his mouth and coughed. No blood emerged, but give the heat that he felt from the psychic energy blade, he was not surprised since the blade had cauterized the wound. He struggled to turn his head and look behind him. There he saw the psychic cat, staring back at him, his psychic energy blade extending from his wrist. "How?" Aizen gasped, trying to breathe. "You're…dead! I…killed…you."

"It was a telepathic illusion," Mewtwo answered with a grin. "Your only goal was to kill me, so I decided to give you what you wanted. I let you think you had killed me, shielding myself from your presence until the time was right."

Aizen gritted his teeth as he slumped over as Mewtwo raised his sword, cleaving the upper part of his body in half. After that, he retracted the blade and began to relax, figuring that Aizen was finally beaten. Mewtwo then turned to face Mew, who did not know whether to be relieved or angry. "What were you doing fighting him? He was dangerous. You didn't have to pick this fight!" she cried.

"I didn't have a choice," Mewtwo countered. "He was already here when I arrived and he initiated combat against me."

"Oooh, you," Mew seethed as she went over to hug Mewtwo. He returned his mother's embrace and smiled kindly at her. After a few moments he disengaged himself from her, still smiling.

"I'm sorry I got you so…" but he would never finish his statement, for a glowing golden blade shot through his chest, causing his eyes to go wide in pain and shock.

Mew's eyes also went wide with shock upon seeing the sword jut out from her son's chest. She rushed over to Mewtwo and tried to heal him and use her telekinesis to push the blade out, but it would not budge, despite her putting a great deal of her power into it. "No, come on baby. You've gotta stay with me. Don't die," she cried, tears forming in her eyes.

"You're not the only one that can perform illusions," Aizen cackled at Mewtwo from behind, ignoring the crying Mew. "I can too. And I'm a lot better than you." He then twisted the blade, inflicting more damage to the Pokémon.

"How?" Mewtwo gasped, coughing, drops of blood shooting from his mouth. "When?"

"When? I created my illusion when you were arguing with your mother! I magically hid myself behind the illusion while you were dealing with my magical attack. I didn't know whether or not your mother would be able to see through the illusion and warn you in time to avoid the attack. It was a gamble, I will admit, but I have to say, it paid off. I will also readily admit that I could not have beaten you without her help." As he said that, he fired a single blast of energy that vaporized Mewtwo's chest. He then brought his blade up and cleaved Mewtwo's neck and head nearly bloodlessly as his blade glowed a deep gold. Just before he would have cut cleanly through them, he brought the head close to him and, going over to the shocked and sobbing Mew said, "You thought you were so powerful. You thought you could get away with it. Now, you're nothing more than a dead and useless piece of trash. And to make matters worse, now, I'll just go and have some fun with your mom before I kill…" but he never finished his statement, for a wave of blue psychic energy washed over him from behind and vaporized him before he ever perceived that he was under attack. He never knew what hit him. A few feet behind him, Mewtwo floated as he extended his hands forward, breathing heavily. Nothing but smoke and dust remained of Aizen, which was dispersed by the air currents inside the cave. The image of the nearly bisected remains of Mewtwo promptly vanished as the illusion ended.

Mewtwo then lowered his hands, but did not lower his guard yet. Aizen had made the mistake of lowering his guard after thinking that he had killed him and had gone on to gloat; he would not make the very mistake that he had had his telepathic illusion feign making. Not only that, but the Magic Lord had shown himself to be able to cast illusions that while Mewtwo could see through, he did not want to take any chances since he was using no more than half of his power against the Magic Lord. His eyes continued to glow as he scanned his surroundings, making absolutely certain that Aizen was dead.

Mew was shocked out of her crying as she witnessed Aizen get vaporized by the Psystrike. Looking on, she saw the dust cloud that had once been Aizen fade and in its place was the seemingly pristine form of Mewtwo. "Mewtwo?" she uttered distantly, hoping against hope that this was not an illusion.

"Yes Mother," Mewtwo nodded. "It's me."

Mew then flew over to him and hugged him more fiercely than she ever had in her entire life. Seeing that she was too small to wrap her arms around her son in her true form, she transformed into a female version of Mewtwo and hugged him fiercely. Mewtwo returned the hug as Mew cried, exclaiming, "I was so worried. Why couldn't you just have stayed with us and partied? We could have come back here at the time of our choosing and fought him together! Why didn't you fight him at full power? He would have been no match for you!"

Mewtwo did not know what his mother was saying at first, but soon, something dawned on him as she hugged him even more fiercely. "You knew that Aizen was after me?" he asked, ignoring her other complaints.

A shocked look crossed Mew's face before she looked down contritely and nodded. "Yes, we knew," she admitted. "We didn't know his name, but we knew that a being that the Federation had referred to as a Magic Lord was searching for you. That's why I wanted to get you out of Cerulean Cave and take you to the other side of the world, especially when Team Rocket had heard the rumors of a powerful Pokémon inhabiting the cave."

"But you don't have to worry now, Mother. Aizen's dead and everything seems to be okay."

He looked back and saw that Aizen's Pokémon had not yet regained consciousness, but the dark power that had been emanating from them seemed to be gone. He suspected that they were no longer under his control. He then heard Mew tell him, "Call me Mom."

Mewtwo smiled and was about to make a remark about how he would always call her "Mother" when he sensed something out of the corner of his mind. As he extended his senses, he felt the same presence that he had felt before when the battle had begun. This time, though, the feeling was far more pronounced. He could feel the person's power, and evil, and save for his evil, he was still a mystery. There was something about his power that was incredible and far more dangerous than Aizen. And yet, there was something else about him that made it seem as if this figure did not have the same destructive potential as Aizen, who could cause significant damage to a planet if he so desired. He also felt as if this person had a specific weakness that, if exploited, would make him or her a far lesser threat than normal. The mysterious person soon vanished from Mewtwo's senses and he relaxed a little bit, still keeping his senses open.

As soon as the mysterious figure vanished, Mewtwo focused back on Mew, his expression returning to normal. "What is it?" Mew asked.

"Nothing now," Mewtwo answered. "I just sensed the presence of someone who had been present during my battle against Aizen. His or her presence was the reason I held back so much against him."

"Do you have any idea who it was?" Mew asked.

Mewtwo shook is head. "No. But I whoever it was was powerful. Maybe not on our level, but powerful enough to be a threat if I did not take him or her seriously."

Mew gave a mock scowl. "Well that settles it," she began cheerfully. "The danger is past. Now we can go back to Dad and spend the rest of our vacation in peace!"

Mew then gave a cheer as she transformed back into her normal form and grabbed Mewtwo's arm before teleporting the both of them back to Hawaii. Mewtwo merely gave a shrug and offered no resistance as she took him back to his father. Still, he could not shake the feeling that whoever it was that had watched the battle was dangerous, and evil. He was suddenly relieved that he had used less than half of his full power against Aizen. But as he reappeared in Hawaii, he could not shake the feeling that this was far from over. If anything, whatever was going on in Kanto had only just begun.

Not far away from the site of the battle, Ganondorf had watched the battle between Aizen and Mewtwo with a great deal of interest. This was his first opportunity to see one of the high end Chosen Heroes fight against an enemy that could actually challenge him. He had been surprised at how close the battle actually seemed to be in the end and that it had been the presence of Mew that had allowed Mewtwo the final victory, for it was Aizen's sadism and hatred for Mewtwo and anyone related to him that caused him to lower his guard once Mewtwo was defeated and go for Mewtwo's mother. However, from what he had seen, he had been a little disappointed. He had expected Mewtwo to be noticeably stronger than he had demonstrated, especially given the fact that the Psychic-type Pokémon had managed to defeat Dark Arceus, and later helped defeat two Arceus Trophies during the Galactic Federation Civil War, along with two adolescent Magic Lords. And while from what he had gathered, Aizen's boast of being the strongest of his kind was not an exaggeration, he still felt as if the difference between the Magic Lord and his two children should not have been nearly as great as it seemed given Mewtwo's performance against both. This caused him to wonder if Mewtwo may have held back against Aizen. If that was the case, then chances were that he had been detected by the bipedal cat-like Pokémon. As soon as the cats had vanished, he, too, disappeared from the scene. He had to make his report to his master as soon as possible.


	16. Chapter 16: Epilogue

Chapter 16:

In a realm separate from the Nintendo Universe, the War Council of the Magic Lords gathered in their palace to discuss the events surrounding the death of Aizen. The death of one of their own at the hands of a mortal was hard enough to bear. But given the fact that it was Aizen who died made things even worse for them, especially so soon after the deaths of two other members of their kind on the same world. Eleven Magic Lords, the strongest of their kind, gathered around the table in the main hall of the palace. There were males and females present, as well as the Lords having a variety of skin, hair, and eye color, each dependant on their own whims. Mostly, they looked like Aizen, who had looked like a Tolkienesque Elf with the traditional long, pointed ears, tall figure, and chiseled face. Some, however, took to looking more like a cross between a humanoid and a dragon, having scaly skin and horns, but having two arms and two legs. Each one wore a unique set of armor and also carried swords that were unique to the individual. They carried swords of all kinds, from broadswords, to short swords, to long swords, each one made from a different type of metal. At the center of the table was a silver bowl. The atmosphere around the table was a somber, which was a rarity for a species as powerful and proud as they were. However, they had a good reason to be somber, and also gravely concerned for their future plans.

Once the council was gathered, one of the Magic Lords, a male with blond hair and green eyes stood up to address the rest of the council. "We have all gathered here today due to alarming news coming from Earth. By now, I am certain that you all know this council's leader and the strongest of our people, Aizen, has fallen in battle. He was killed while fighting an enemy known as Mewtwo despite his newfound ability to resist psychic powers and attacks. Mewtwo was a psychic enemy with powers similar to the humans that made up the Chosen Four. It is almost certain that Aizen was attempting to avenge the deaths of his children, Aglara and Aramon, the former of which he had to absorb her power and knowledge into himself, killing her, so that it would not be lost when she succumbed to her injuries. We all know what Aizen had managed to acquire with the absorption of the powers and abilities of Aglara. He was the key to the creation of the new Dark Dragon! Without him, the entire project is in peril. The new Dark Dragon would have the same weaknesses as the old one, which was defeated by a handful of human psychics. Yes they were stronger than normal human psychics, but the Chosen Four were the main force behind the Dark Dragon's defeat. And the Dark Dragon had access to the Star Rod, something we no longer have."

"Perhaps we should have assisted him in his attempt to get revenge against Mewtwo and Samus Aran for the deaths of Aglara and Aramon," a female Magic Lord with black hair and black eyes commented sagely.

"Such a plan would have been fraught with risk," a second male Magic Lord countered. "Aizen was the only one who had managed to overcome our extreme weakness to psychic powers and the Light. Any attempt to support him could have resulted in even more losses, which would have jeopardized our plans."

"Aizen was the backbone of our plans. Without him, we're practically back at Square One!" the female Magic Lord countered.

"Enough!" the first Magic Lord blurted. "This bickering will get us nowhere. What we must do now is focus on our future."

"But Aizen _was_ our future," a fourth Magic Lord, this one a male who looked like a cross between a human and a dragon, interjected. "With his death, all of our plans must be put on hold."

"We must go to Earth and avenge the losses of Aizen and his children. If enough of us go, we may be able to kill Mewtwo!" the female Magic Lord blurted. "He is dangerous enough that the cost in life would be well worth the gain if we can get some of our servant races to pick up some of the slack. We could eliminate a great threat and show the rest of the universe the price for killing one of our kind."

"So we could all join Aizen in death?" the third Magic Lord retorted. "How do you intend to get down onto the planet so we can kill Mewtwo? That planet has a defense grid that could destroy a small empire! And that's before we end up having to deal with the various Legendary Pokémon, many of whom are psychic, and now the Chosen Four! Cyrus's attack on Earth showed just how difficult and costly an attack on that planet is, and in the end, he lost the planet, and his life in that battle. The only reason Aizen was able to make any moves on Earth at the time was because he was already on world when the Federation in Exile and United Earth forces retook the planet from Cyrus and the false Federation!"

"As of right now, a direct attack on Earth is out of the question," the first Magic Lord, and the de facto leader of the council declared. "It would just be too costly, even with our servant races picking up much of the slack. And there is still the very real chance that our attack would fail."

"But we can't just let Mewtwo's defeat of Aizen go unchallenged!" the female Magic Lady insisted. "We have to do something!"

"And we shall when the time comes," the council leader assured her, as well as the others who thought like her. "Mewtwo, and Samus will pay for the deaths of Aizen, Aglara, and Aramon. And Earth shall also be dealt with, eventually. But right now, we must turn our attention to more pressing matters. While the avenue of using Aizen to make the new Dark Dragon immune to psychic powers and the light has been thwarted, there are still other options that we can search for. As it is right now, we must focus on other sources of potential resistance and alternative methods to neutralizing our weakness to psychic powers and the Light, so that when we create the new Dark Dragon, it will not have the same vulnerabilities that the previous one did."

The rest of the council then took their seat again and listened to the latest reports from other areas of interest such as Hylia, Pop Star, and other worlds that held their interest. Still, the pal of Aizen's death hung heavily over them and suddenly, despite their bluster when speaking about their plans and how they had not lost anyone on any of the other worlds…yet, they were no longer so certain of their supremeness of their power, not after having lost their strongest member, along with two adolescents that were as strong as some of the stronger Magic Lords from the pre Dark Dragon days less than three months apart. Their aura of invincibility was now gone, both to them and to their enemies. And that frightened them more than anything.

On Smash World, innumerable light-years away from Earth, Ganondorf made his way up a long set of stairs in a narrow, gray corridor not too far away from the base's main control room. The stairs led to a separate sector of the base where the leader of the Subspace Army, Master Hand, resided. The path was lined with a red carpet, and there were numerous statues of various robotic figures with square bases with treads, a square head with two eyes and two arms on the body. He scowled at the sensors, wanting Master Hand to know his displeasure at having to report on the latest events on Earth. He ignored the Primids, dark-skinned beings with dark purple blobs of energy leaking from various parts of their body dressed in green uniforms and hats, as well as the Fire Primids, who were identical to their normal Primid brethren save for their red uniforms and hats, and were capable of breathing fire, as he made his way up the stairs. The Primids made no moves as Ganondorf ascended the stairs on his way to see Master Hand. They could see the scowl on his face and did not want to provoke his wrath. While they had not known what had happened to make Ganondorf so angry, they suspected that something had gone wrong on Earth once more and that the Gerudo King would have to make another report about it to Master Hand.

Eventually, Ganondorf reached the top of the stairs and saw a large metal door standing in his way. Standing, or rather, sitting in front of the metal door, were two powerful robot soldiers known as Galleom and Duon. Galleom was a large gray and purple robot with simian features that had thick arms and thinner legs that could transform into a tank. It also had a two missile launchers on its back that could fire volleys of missiles at its target. It was extremely strong in close combat, but it was devastating at range, especially in tank form. The second robot, Duon, was a two-sided robot on top of a set of two large wheels. One half was pink while the other half was blue. The pink half had a head cannon and two arm cannons, while the blue half had two arm swords and a curved blade on the top of its head. Each half also had exhaust pipes that were capable of shooting either missiles or mines.

The robots stared at him, preparing to fire a volley of attacks should Ganondorf not provide the proper proof of identification. Ganondorf shrugged. He could have destroyed both of the robots with little more than single attacks if it suited him. However, they were resource intensive to build and highly valuable to Master Hand. Besides, they were valuable soldiers that could take the pressure off some of the more powerful generals when the time for fighting really came.

Stepping forward, he declared, "I need to see Master Hand now."

The robots' eyes glowed as they scanned the Gerudo King in order to make sure that it was really Ganondorf and not an impostor that was talking to them. The Gerudo King grimaced, not thinking that all of these security precautions were necessary, but Master Hand had felt that it was better to be safe than sorry. After the scan was complete, they bowed before the general in a non-threatening manner and stepped aside, allowing Ganondorf access to the Subspace Army leader's chamber. The Gerudo King approached the doors and when he arrived, he threw them open and went on in.

Inside the chamber, he saw a large white gloved right hand floating above the floor at the end of the chamber. Other than that, the area was sparsely furnished, with only a few seats and a table for the human(oid) guests that would gather there for a meeting with him. Ganondorf scowled as he saw a human figure standing near the hand. As he approached, he saw that it was John Ketchum, the human recruit that Master Hand had personally recruited to the Subspace Army, himself. The presence of the human did nothing to lighten Ganondorf's spirits. Once he went up to the hand, he looked over at John and demanded, "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I am making my report to Master Hand as to the events that recently occurred on planet Earth," came the human's answer.

Ganondorf's eyes went wide with surprise. "Then why was I summoned here?" he blurted.

"I want to hear your own analysis as to what happened," the deep voice of Master Hand answered.

Ganondorf scowled as he made his report. "Team Rocket went to attack some of the Chosen Heroes, among them Ash Ketchum, Mia Ketchum, Ash's Pikachu, and Pokémon Coordinators May and Dawn. The attack ended in failure and the group pursued them back to their base, where their final assault managed to destroy Team Rocket, as well as kill Giovanni and deny us access to the Legendary Pokémon once under his control." That last bit was directed at John. Ganondorf gave a pause before continuing. "During my time on Earth, I witnessed the battle between the Chosen Heroes and Team Rocket. There were two instances that jumped out at me. First was the fact that Domino, an Elite Rocket Officer, had been killed after she had gained leverage of the Chosen Heroes that would have allowed them to be captured or killed, specifically by threatening a woman named Delia Ketchum. Second was the shooting down of the helicopter that contained Giovanni as a passenger, its downing killing him in the process." Turning to John, Ganondorf pointed at him. "I believe that _you_ were the one who shot him down!" he accused.

Surprisingly, John made not attempt to deny it. He simply returned Ganondorf's glare. "And if you had been paying attention to the situation at Team Rocket Headquarters, rather than going off to wait to see if Mewtwo or any of the other Chosen heroes would attend the battle, you would have learned that it was a good thing I did!" he retorted.

"What do you mean?" Ganondorf asked, surprised by John's admission, but remaining skeptical.

The human took out a silver datapad and activated it. The images of all of the Subspace Army commanders and leaders appeared on the screen. He tapped an image of Ganondorf and immediately, all of the information that the Subspace Army had on the Gerudo King came up: everything from his physical appearances, feats, to strengths and weaknesses. John then tapped another image and the data for a Pterodactyl-like creature known as Ridley appeared. The data also seemed to point out the Space Dragon's capabilities, along with his strengths and weaknesses. "And that's not all," John continued. Pushing another button, the images of people of interest appeared on the pad, too, along with their data. He let the impact of what he had shown hit Ganondorf, as well as Master Hand, before speaking again. "I found this inside the downed helicopter. It was in Giovanni's hands. He was clutching it before I finished him off. In addition, before the battle, I had noticed that Giovanni had plans to go after a large number of Legendary Pokémon. That was what drew our attention in the first place. Our hope was to use these Pokémon to create more powerful cannon fodder soldiers. The replica of Rayquaza just isn't enough for what is to come. As I was saying to Master Hand before your arrival, during my time on Earth, I also noticed that a non-human was working with Team Rocket. At first, I thought it was a Hylian, but I eventually discovered that this person was, instead, a Magic Lord."

"It is easy to mistake the two since they look so similar physically," Master Hand interjected, as if explaining why John would be investigating the appearance of a Hylian or Magic Lord.

"Yes," Ganondorf nodded. "That Magic Lord drew my attention, too. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on what else you may have, he was defeated by the Psychic-type Pokémon Mewtwo, another Chosen Hero, albeit one that currently does not have a trophy here on Smash World since the trophy was destroyed before the Great Trophy Rebellion."

"Then you wouldn't miss anything," Master Hand interjected. "We already know that the real heroes are almost always stronger than their Trophy counterparts, some them tremendously so. Given that Mewtwo is a psychic and that he defeated a Magic Lord, I would think that the pathetic Trophy Mewtwo was nothing like the real one in power and capacity."

"Thank you, Master," John said to Master hand, bowing. "Getting back on topic, there was a very real possibility that Giovanni knew that we were the ones funneling weapons and information to him and that he was preparing for an attack on us, or at least planning to threaten us so he could gain leverage over our forces. He was, after all, planning a raid on Goldenrod City's Radio Tower that would have allowed him to transmit a code that would have taken control of all Trainer owned Pokémon in Japan. With them, he would have had a powerful army that could rival everyone save maybe you," he concluded, indicating Master Hand. "I think that it was actually quite fortuitous that Ash and Mia managed to defeat Giovanni and Team Rocket when they did. A potentially serious threat has been dealt with and we have more information on the Chosen Heroes."

"Did you make sure to destroy all traces of data or technology on that downed helicopter before the Pokémon League or Chosen Heroes came to investigate?" Ganondorf asked harshly.

John nodded. "I did and more. The only piece of data remaining from the helicopter was this. In addition, the data inside the base was wiped clean. I think that Giovanni had been keeping his true plans from his subordinates."

Ganondorf cast a skeptical glance at the human. He then turned back to Master Hand. "Do you believe him?" the Gerudo King asked. It was obvious that Ganondorf had his misgivings.

"I see no reason not to," Master Hand answered. "After all, I was the one who sent him to investigate the situation in the first place."

This admission shocked Ganondorf. "What?" he blurted. "Then why not tell me? You told me he was there to secure troops!"

"It was necessary to keep this investigation quiet until it was finished," the hand answered. "The investigator had to be human as well, so that Team Rocket, and Giovanni, would not have suspected anything. He may have even been listening in on you, as well. Passing John off as a Pokémon League investigator or as an independent Pokémon Trainer would have been easy. That would not be the case with you. Besides, Giovanni may have used his Psychic-type Pokémon to try to scan you. There was a small chance that they would have been successful if they were smart about going about the scan and/or you were arrogant and had your mental defenses lowered. That would not have been the case with John, who was merely a mundane human."

"Then why did you send me to Earth in the first place?" Ganondorf asked.

"To keep an eye on John," the hand answered. "If, by some small chance, he did plan on betraying us, you would be the perfect person to deal with him since he has nothing that can hurt you. And to get him out of there if things went wrong."

"I see," Ganondorf answered, seemingly satisfied with Master Hand's answer. Still, he cast a suspicious glance at John. Turning back to Master Hand, he asked, "Will that be all?"

"Yes," Master Hand answered. "Unless there is something else you wish to add."

"There is," Ganondorf answered. Going up to the hand, he got in close and whispered, "Don't keep John in the loop as to our full plans for the Heroes."

"Why not?" Master Hand whispered back.

"Because I don't trust him. What he said about Giovanni may be true, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was. But in taking down Giovanni, he also saved his own children. In addition, there is the fact that an Elite Rocket Officer was killed by a Ray Gun and that her death saved not only his children's lives, but also that of his wife as well. I think that he has an attachment to his family and if he finds out our plans, he'll betray us."

"I see," Master Hand said. "I'll take what you said under advisement."

"Thank you, Master," Ganondorf said, bowing. "Will there be anything else?"

"Yes," Master Hand answered. "There is another set of invitations to the upcoming Super Smash Brothers Tournament. I need you and some Subspace Army agents to deliver them to the proper recipients."

"It shall be done, Master Hand," Ganondorf replied, bowing. The Gerudo King then rose and departed from Master Hand's chamber. As he left, he gave a sly grin. Now all he had to do was to start making plans of his own. He had sown the seeds of mistrust towards John. It would not be long before he did so towards the other general as well, should it be necessary. While he would have no problem serving Master Hand for the time being, especially if it would get him a battle against Link, he would be ready to take over the Subspace Army and make it his own when the time came.

Back inside the chamber, John breathed a sigh of relief when Ganondorf departed. As soon as the doors closed, Master Hand turned to him and said, "That was a close one." Looking sternly, or as sternly as a gloved hand could look, he asked, "Are you sure that no one else saw you shoot down the helicopter or create the data?"

"I'm positive," John answered. "Everyone will think that any data that finds its way into the hands of the Heroes would have originally been gathered either by Aizen or by Giovanni."

"Did you make sure to put the datapad where your children would see and retrieve it?"

"Of course," John answered. "And I'm happy to say that they took the datapad and received the message."

Master Hand gave a sigh. "You were right. The recent turn of events _is_ quite fortuitous. Aizen has been killed, which means that the Magic Lords' plans have been dealt a severe setback, if not outright crippled or beaten. This will allow the heroes on Earth to focus their attention on dealing with the Subspace Army. Still, be careful of Ganondorf. He's getting suspicious of you. He told me that I should not trust you."

"I'd be wary of trusting him, in turn," John told Master Hand. "If I remember correctly, Trophy Ganondorf intended to usurp your command of the Subspace Army during the Trophy Rebellion. I wouldn't be surprised if the real one tried something like that here, too."

"I am well aware of his plans. But he has his 'uses', for the moment. No," the hand said, shaking in the negative. "We can't move openly against him, or the rest of the army yet. As it is, though, we won't be focusing on Earth for a while, so you won't be heading back there anytime soon."

"I understand." John then focused on Master Hand. He then said, "Master Hand, ever since I was recruited, you have been the face of the Subspace Army and its leader. However, if you were its leader, would you not simply order the army to not attack the rest of the universe or the Chosen Heroes and, instead, protect it? Surely the army would listen to and obey your orders."

"It's not that simple," Master Hand lamented.

"I know," John said plainly. He then gave a pause. "So who is the real leader of the Subspace Army?"

The question took Master Hand off guard. He cast a glance down at the human and answered, "I cannot reveal that information yet."

"But there _is_ someone above you, isn't there."

Master Hand shook up and down in affirmation. "No one knows that there is someone else above me in the army. Whatever you do, you cannot tell anyone what I have told you just now, not even your own children should you come across them. Protect your thoughts carefully John. Ganondorf knows that we are close and that I have confided in you, just as I have confided in him as well. He will likely try to scan your mind to learn of any weaknesses that I may have."

"I'll be careful." After a pause, John asked, "Will there be anything else?"

"No. You may go."

After he had been given leave to depart, John went over to the exit and walked through the doors. As he made his way through, Master Hand wondered if he had revealed too much information to John. While John was a good person and loyal to his family, he was also only a normal human. He did not have the same mental defenses that someone like Ganondorf did. Carrying the information that he did would be a great burden, especially if Ganondorf had more missions for him.

Back on Earth, a few days had past since the death of Giovanni and the fall of Team Rocket. The Pokémon League had taken the survivors of Team Rocket, including Archer, Ariana, Jessie, James, Meowth, and the few other grunts that had not been killed during the fighting, into custody and were about to put them on trial. Many considered the trial to be a mere formality, for while they would let the judicial system take its course, there was more than enough evidence to send Archer and Ariana to prison forever, if not have them be outright executed for their crimes. The Team Rocket Trio, however, would fare better since they had not actually killed anyone, or tried to do so, either. As for the grunts, they, too, were facing charges and would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Not only that, but Archer and Ariana had quickly turned on all Pokémon League officials that had sided with Team Rocket, those that were still alive, and the League was cleaning house with great prejudice. For all intents and purposes, though, the fall of Team Rocket was complete. With only a few surviving grunts and all of the surviving Executives arrested, the threat of Team Rocket was now over.

Ash set down the newsletter and looked over at Pikachu. He had been trying to decide what to do with himself now that he had accomplished the goal he had set for himself ever since he was young. He was finally a Pokémon Master. And while he was thrilled to have accomplished his life's goal, the title did not seem to have the same ring right now that it had when he was younger. Perhaps Mia's talk from when they had met at the Pokémon Center just after the Championship battle was rubbing off on him. Even though the Pokémon Masters that he had met had been good people who treated their Pokémon well, even as equals at times, he wanted to show the world that humans and Pokémon could work together as equals, not merely as master and servant. So far, neither the Galactic Federation, nor United Earth, had made any indication that they had taken any greater than normal interest in the Pokémon World.

He soon heard a clank outside the house, the unmistakable sound of the mailbox clanging shut. Looking at the time, it read twelve fifteen in the afternoon. It was relatively early for the mail to come but he decided that he would go out and check it anyway. As he went to get up, he saw a blur of motion come down the stairs as Mia rushed outside to get the mail before he had finished rising. Her haste piqued his curiosity and he quickly rose to follow her. Pikachu quickly jumped up onto his shoulder as they followed the girl outside. As soon as they got outside, Mia was already heading back with a small number of envelopes. She approached Ash and Pikachu, holding out two envelopes. "Here," she said, tossing both of them an envelope. "It looks like you both got mail."

Ash was quite surprised that not only he, but also Pikachu, had received mail. "Both of us?" he asked, perplexed that Pikachu would also receive a letter. He did not even know if Pikachu could read human writing.

Mia nodded. They both took the letter and examined the envelope. They both had the home address of Ash and his family, but no return address at all. Looking ever at Mia, he noticed that she, too, was examining her letter. Her letter also had an identical envelope as well. He then opened the envelope and pulled out the letter. He opened the letter and began to read it. It read:

_Dear Ash Ketchum:_

_ Your daring exploits and feats have not gone unnoticed throughout the universe. As a result of your tremendous feats of not only becoming the World Pokémon League Champion, but also defeating Team Rocket and its leader, Giovanni, you are cordially invited to participate in the first ever Super Smash Bros. Competition that will begin starting in May of next year. The Super Smash Bros. Competition is where the greatest of heroes from all around the multiverse assemble to see just who among the best is the best. There are many competitions ranging from fighting, to breaking the targets, to homerun contests, to stamina matches, and more. There is an attached pamphlet to further explain the various contests you may partake in in the Super Smash Bros. competition, as well as a return envelope for you to mail your response in. Please send us your response by the thirty-first of December of this year if you plan to attend. Should you wish to attend, we will mail you all the information regarding the location of the competition. Should you wish to attend, your family will be automatically allowed to attend the competition as spectators, those who are, themselves, not participants. We hope that you will attend this prestigious event and bring your skills to this challenging competition._

_ from,_

_ The Super Smash Stadium_

Ash proceeded to fold up the letter as he finished reading it. The invitation to the Super Smash Brothers Tournament that his father had warned him and Mia about had come. Looking back at Pikachu, and then at Mia, he quickly saw that they, too, had received invitations to the Super Smash Brothers Tournament, evidenced by the expression on their faces and their glances back at him. His return glance told them everything they needed to know. Mia quickly folded the letter and put it back in her envelope. They faced each other for a second before Mia eventually broke the silence. "Well, this came sooner than expected."

Ash and Pikachu both nodded in agreement. They, too, were surprised at how quickly the invitations had come. Mia handed her letter over to him and he took it and read it, seeing that the writing was almost identical to his, save for the fact that the writer used her name, rather than his. Reading over Pikachu's version, he found that it, too, was written the same way, almost as if they were being mass-produced. He was surprised that he could read Pikachu's letter and he suspected that there was something special about the letters or the paper they were written on that would allow Pikachu to read them. He looked back at Mia and quickly realized that she was thinking the same thing. This Super Smash Brothers Tournament was going to have a lot of participants. They figured that it would not be out of the realm of possibility that at least a few dozen participants could enter into the tournament, with there likely being as many as sixty-four, possibly more. All three of them glanced at each other and nodded. They would heed the warning that their father had left them in the letter and would not accept the invitation, unless the situation changed so that they could be in the position of strength when they left.

After a few seconds, they heard the voices of May and Dawn call out to them, "Hey Ash, Leaf, I mean Mia," Dawn corrected.

The twins looked out at the sidewalk and saw May and Dawn coming over to see them. "May, Dawn," Ash called out in surprise as he went over to meet them. "What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to check in on an old friend," May answered.

"Me, too," Dawn echoed. "And besides, we're going to participate in a new Contest Festival in a few weeks, along with us modeling a new fashion collection."

"That's great. Good luck to both of you," Ash congratulated.

May and Dawn beamed back at him and smiled kindly towards Mia. They quickly noticed that Mia was holding onto a letter. Looking over at Ash and Pikachu, they also noticed that they were holding onto letters. "Wow, did you get invitations to the Super Smash Brothers Tournament too?" Dawn asked.

Ash, Mia, and Pikachu's eyes flashed with surprise at the mention of the tournament and that they knew of it. "Yeah," Ash answered for the other two. "How did you know about it?"

The two girls reached into their backpacks and pulled out invitations of their own. "They came to us this morning. We're planning on going," Dawn told him.

"Don't," Mia warned succinctly. "It's a trap."

May and Dawn looked at her with surprise. "A trap? What makes you say that?"

"When we found Giovanni's helicopter, we saw a datapad that had information that told us that the tournament was an elaborate trap by an enemy force to bring Chosen Heroes together so they could all be dealt with at once," Ash answered. He knew that his father had not been that specific, but he could extrapolate what the plan was. He did not want to go into detail with May and Dawn just yet, but figured that they needed to know.

"Ash and I have already decided not to go," Mia told them.

"There's more," Ash told them. "But I don't want to discuss it out here. We should talk about this inside."

"Okay," the two girls said waveringly as they glanced at one another, concerned at Ash's newfound serious personality, and went to follow Ash and Mia into their house.

Just as they were about to head inside a flash appeared in front of them and a tall bipedal cat-like Pokémon appeared directly in front of the group. Ash immediately recognized the Pokémon as Mewtwo. "Mewtwo!" he blurted in surprise. "This is unexpected. What are you doing here?"

Mia looked over at Ash and was surprised that he knew the Pokémon but smiled all the same. May and Dawn were shocked by the sudden appearance of Mewtwo, as well as the fact that Ash seemed to know the Pokémon. "You know it?" Dawn blurted.

"This is Mewtwo," Ash told May and Dawn, motioning towards the psychic cat-like Pokémon. "We've met twice before and have gone on an adventure both times," he told them.

"I am an enemy of Team Rocket," Mewtwo said, bowing before the humans. He calmly stepped forward, approaching them, smiling gently. "I heard that you all had quite an adventure."

The two teens nodded.

"You defeated Giovanni and helped to destroy Team Rocket. Good work."

"Thanks," Ash responded, blushing with embarrassment. May and Dawn also gave shy smiles.

Mia gazed intently at Mewtwo. She had heard of rumors about Mewtwo but had never met him before, though she had encountered a Mew before. She pulled out her Pokédex and scanned the Pokémon. The scans of Mewtwo's power readings came back and her eyes went wide as they were off the scale. They were far superior to any Legendary Pokémon that she had ever encountered before. "Wow, what is a Pokémon with your power doing talking to normals like us?" she asked.

Mewtwo then produced an envelope and held it out in front of him. "I recently received this letter from a place called the Super Smash Stadium. I could not help but notice that the five of you also received the same letter."

He showed them the letter and when they read it, they noted that the only difference was the fact that it mentioned that he had defeated a being known as a Magic Lord, as well as having faced down and beaten two Magic Lords previously, Dark Arceus, and helped Samus Aran against a Dark Arceus trophy along with a fabricated Dialga and Palkia. Upon reading the letter, Ash asked, "What's a Magic Lord?"

"An enemy of incredible power," Mewtwo answered cautiously. "Aizen would have been far out of your league had he seriously come after you, which it appears as if he did not. I must say that while Aizen and the Magic Lords were the main reason I came to talk to you, since he was also working with Team Rocket, it appears as if it is not the only reason this meeting is as fortuitous as it is."

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

Mewtwo motioned towards Ash's invitation to the Super Smash Brothers Tournament. "You're not the only ones to receive invitations to the Super Smash Brothers Tournament. At first, I was merely curious about whether or not you had been invited as well, with you having played a role in Team Rocket's demise, but now, it seems as if this tournament is not all it seems. I am planning my own investigation into it."

"But why come to talk to us at all?" Ash asked. "What can we do that you can't?"

"Sometimes, the one who makes all the difference is the one normal that no one would expect," Mewtwo answered. He then looked at them sternly. "Things are happening. Plans are being set in motion both by the Subspace Army and the Magic Lords. The Magic Lords have an extreme vulnerability to psychic powers. From what I can gather, Aizen was supposed to be the answer. His daughter, Aglara, had managed to gain resistance to psychic powers and a power known as the Light. Aizen absorbed it after Aglara was fatally injured at the end of the Galactic Federation Civil War. With him dead, their plans have hit a large snag, but they are not finished. However, for the moment, I think the Subspace Army is the more pressing threat. That said, though, we all need to work together. The Magic Lords will watch what happens in this next year with keen interest. In addition, we are not the only Chosen Heroes of Earth. We must all assemble and keep in contact with each other. I have a feeling that it will be essential for us to deal with the threats that are coming."

Ash, Mia, and Pikachu nodded sagely. "I think I may know who some of them are," Ash volunteered. "Come on," he offered. "It looks like we all have a matter to discuss."

With that, Ash and Mia headed into their home, followed by May, Dawn, and Mewtwo. Once they were inside, they proceeded to discuss the information that John had passed on to them, telling them everything.

Meanwhile, in a universe separate from the normal Nintendo universe, a male Dark Elf with fair skin but black hair and black eyes gazed into a crystal ball and watched the scene on Earth as Ash and Mia headed inside their house, followed by May, Dawn, and Mewtwo. As soon as the Psychic-type Pokémon had entered the house, the house went blank to their magical senses. "I can no longer see Chosen Heroes Ash Ketchum, Mia Ketchum, May, Dawn, and Mewtwo," the male said, looking into the ball and seeing only static.

"It is likely that the psychic Pokémon is blocking any scanning attempt," came the reply from a female Dark Elf, who had fair skin, like the male, along with black hair and gray eyes. She came over to the ball and chanted a magical spell in order to try to regain the picture. For a brief moment, the image came back, but soon, it dissolved into static once more. "Indeed, we _are_ being blocked."

"But how can a psychic block us?" the male asked.

"He's likely merely set up a psychic energy field that disrupts any magical attempt to spy on him," the female answered.

"That's not the issue right now," the male said in a worried tone. "The issue right now is that a large number of Chosen Heroes have met and are gathering in a single place."

"But things have greatly changed," the female countered. "Aizen is dead. The only Elvanheim that had resistance to psychic powers is dead. The last of Aizen's family is dead. The Elvanheim have lost their most powerful and important member."

"Yes, but what about the Subspace Army? Even if the Magic Lords plans have suffered with the loss of the Council's leader, the Subspace Army is still building its forces," the male said. "They could become a significant threat."

"Perhaps," the female said thoughtfully. "But I don't think that the Subspace Army will be the real concern. It is powerful on the small scale, but it lacks the numbers and power to threaten the great galactic and universal superpowers. Chances are that the Chosen Heroes will be able to defeat it. The issue there is the prospect of the Magic Lords taking advantage of the Subspace Army's presence and launching a surprise attack on the Heroes."

"That _is_ an issue," the male agreed.

"Then our next course of action is clear. We must ensure that the Magic Lords are unable to plan an attack on the Heroes," the female concluded.

"So when do we reveal ourselves to the Heroes and inform them of the Elvanheim's threat?"

"When the time is right," the female answered.

The male nodded and the two gazed into each other's eyes. Speaking a single alien word, the crystal ball went blank and the two Dark Elves retreated behind a curtain and into the back room, feeling a sense of calm that they had not known in over a thousand years. For the first time in a long time, there was hope, both for the former slaves of the Magic Lords, as well as for the rest of the universe.


End file.
